#'this should be more realistic like game of thrones'

[atlantic-riona]

sorry not sorry but some of y'all need to remember that you're reading children's literature

[simon-newman]

TIL I learned that the initial plans for Smaug in the Hobbit movies had him with four legs and a pair of wings like an actual dragon should be:

Supposedly the original design was still used in the first movie original cut and only changed to show winged forelimbs in the enhanced version.

what we ultimately got is the bat-like front limbs that serve as both arms and wings.

NGL. I still love him but there's this tiny voice at the back of my head saying "this is a wyvern".

Now. Why was the change made?

The official answer is:

"Originally, the dragon we envisioned was bigger. The idea was to get the fear through his bulk. In fact, if you go back and look at the first film and the scenes that he was in, he was actually a four-legged dragon because we just had him stomping through Erebor in all of those flashback scenes," Letteri said. "But we realized that once you saw him performing -- we especially got this from watching Benedict perform. He got down on the grown and starting slithering around like the way Tolkien described Smaug in the books, which is as a big worm. Once we saw Benedict doing all of that, we realized you can't have him be this four-legged creature with wings on him back, he needs to be two legs and his wings need to be his arms properly, as you would expect a creature to be like a bat or a bird."

So in order to make him move like Tolkien described they had to make him not fit the Tolkien's description of having four legs.

They made him less accurate to make him more accurate?

Plus. The excuse that he will be slithering around means he can't have four legs?

This is Fatalis - the most powerful monster in the Monster hunter franchise. It's an Elder Dragon with uniquely Draconic design.

Most regular MH monsters are some kind of a wyvern with four limbs. Elder dragons are different and like Fatalis many have six limbs.

Uniquely - Fatalis is the classic European dragon in terms of design - something that set him apart from other monsters in the franchise.

It is a monster and destroyer of kingdoms.

And he slithers around.

He can move in two ways - by lying flat on his belly and pulling himself forward with wings - in this case the forelegs are held close to his body.

The other method is to actually use the front limbs instead of wings. This gives him multiple means of movement depending on the situation and intentions.

He has a few more animations where he just lies flat or jumps forward - both ending with him flat on the ground and able to stand up easily. Those are attacks that intend to crush enemies with his entire body.

Four legs don't interfere in the slightest with all those movements.

The excuse is weak.

It is just my theory but seeing the recent push for "realistic" design for dragons I personally blame the Game of Thrones.

It began airing too late for the first movie to be changed as the production was likely in a very late stages.

Second one tho? Yeah. I could see how they implement the idea based on G.R.R. Martin's design.

For REALISM.

Of a mythical, flying, fire breathing monster.

I'm just waiting for "realistic" dragons appearing alongside creatures like gryphon and pegasus with the same excuse being made.

...

Thank you to listening to my rant.

[15-lizards]

love what you do! do you think you could expand on the winterfell region or the or bolton/umber region fashion?

I am a firm believer in patterns for men. Ignore the show no Lord of Winterfell is going to wear old leathers like a plebeian. They have fine fur cloaks, carefully made brooches and clasps, and thick fabrics that may not be comfortable but are clearly patterned and well made (no one ever said serving cunt was easy) Ned should have been rocking the fit on the left when Robert showed up and Jon should’ve been eating bitches up on the wall like the fit on the right

I am also a firm believer in big fancy wide sleeve supremacy. And big fancy hat/kokoshnik. Since silk and satin and thin fabrics aren’t feasible in winterfell, the women focus on embroidery, beading, and fur to make their clothes look pretty. Perhaps the sign of the most affluent bitch in winter fell is how big can their headpiece get and how heavy can it get from beading and decoration until it’s hurting your neck. The more slouching the better.

Bolton cool blood-core aesthetic is sadly hindered by thick extra layers of clothing that leave you puffy like a marshmallow. Bc I doubt there is much central heating in the Dreadfort. Probably not as much decoration on the clothing for minor nobles, but Roose and his crew still have some. All in red of course. A lot of high collars, long sleeves, and tight jackets with fur cloaks over the shoulders there’s no shirtless sword practice here take ur ass back to Highgarden

Honestly the Umbers probably aren’t far off from wildlings themselves. Furs and leather and using every part of the animal for their clothing, but they also still have the (albeit minor) luxury of dyes and metals etc etc. They’re still physically threatening but also they’re trudging through waist high snow most of the year and have to waddle around in ten layers of extra clothes. So yea Greatjon is scary but less scary when you see him with three scarves around his face and an overcoat on big enough to cover his four layers of shirts

Extra: smallfolk from around the Umber and Bolton areas. Why is everyone in game of thrones wearing brown. Why are they only wearing two layers. That’s stupid D&D you are stupid. The smallfolk in my mind wear handmade patterns that were lovingly made by the fire. Cotton clothing dyed from berries and plants. Grey wool from the sheep and sun bleached leather that’s turned light brown. Fur hats to keep their ears warm and big pants to tuck into their boots. The smallfolk in my homeade ASOIAF universe are realistically able to survive winter

[paragonrobits]

There’s a phrase I like to use when people question why, in fantasy series, people don’t just take the most efficient and ruthless option. I say, “This isn’t Game of Thrones.” Bluntly put, apart from having a very unsatisfying ending to its character arcs due to a realistic but very abrupt swing from the character arcs it had been building up (and in one notable case, a character arc that WAS built up the whole time, but not in a way people anticipated), Game of Thrones is most notorious for a very realpolitick approach to how the characters make their decisions.

Efficiency, immediate needs and ruthlessness regardless of personal qualms comes up a lot in what people seem to have taken from that show’s success, and you see a LOT of people thinking that pragmatic ruthlessness is the most basic and standard solution to any story’s problems, regardless of whether or not its consistent with a story’s given themes and morals.

The Avatar setting is NOT one of those. In this setting, spirituality is vitally important; the reason WHY things are done, as well as HOW they done, are just as important as the actual end result, if not more.

So, one thing I see a LOT in fandom circles (usually in bad takes floating around and being mocked by the circles I am adjacent to, or ideas popular among Big Name Fans who are kind of sheltered from the actual themes of the show itself and have distanced themselves from what the show is actually like in favor of what is functionally a completely original series that appeals to their own preferences) comes down to discussions arguing that AtLA would be better if Aang just took down every one he fought and killed them all without hesitation; there is a popular implication among these ideas that Aang is considered weak to them BECAUSE he doesn't want to kill. Because killing is anathema to his people, because the deliberate taking of life is a HUGE deal to both the Air Nomads and the real life religions that they are based on.

These takes conclude that none of that matters; that his morals and compunctions should just be immediately tossed aside in order to achieve his goals. There's usually something like 'who cares about spirituality when the world is so bad' or the ends justifying the means. And the thing is that we DO see characters in AtLA saying that, quite often. Characters who don't care about the spiritual consequences of their actions, who do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals.

They're the villains.

In AtLA, ruthlessness, pragmatism and 'whatever it takes to get what I want' is SPECIFICALLY and EXCLUSIVELY associated with the antagonists. General Fong; Azula, Ozai, the entirety of the Fire Nation... one thing they all have in common, besides opposing Aang, is that they're not just willing to be ruthless, they have no interest in achieving their goals or really doing anything at all without being ruthless and amoral about it. There's a common point in the narrative here, and I think the episode the Avatar State neatly sums it up through its story, as we are presented with Fong, who is seemingly an ally, demanding that they ignore the spiritual demands in favor of just weaponizing a force of nature no one involved really understands.

His emphasis on the people dying in the meantime does make for a potent image, but he is ultimately and frequently established as a ruthless jackass who cares more about trying to weaponize the Avatar State (and mere mortals do not get to have a say in its decisions or what the World Spirit, in its fullest power, wants to do). Apart from this indicating a more or less full departure from a strict moral binary within the series, there's also an emphasis on Katara growing increasingly uncomfortable with the non-spiritual plan they're taking, to the point that she won't have anything to do with it, and she is very much the show's heart. If she disapproves of something with plot relevance, its usually a bad sign.

So this whole THING you have with people going 'everything would be better if Aang killed everyone immediately except for the secret Good Guys even though he has absolutely no way of knowing them out of context'... its genuinely really bewildering and I think its kind of proof of people not engaging with the show's themes or ethics, but assuming that ruthlessness and efficiency are the default way of handling everything. AtLA is not subtle about this and if you think that the show at any point suggests that this is a likely outcome, I don't think you're really engaging with it, or you're misunderstanding the context (such as the Ocean Spirit rampaging being framed as a last second moment of hope; I think people conflate its destruction as generally a Cool Thing, rather than the world itself protecting a dying culture from near certain destruction as the moon itself is... well, dead.)

(There's also a protagonist-centered morality in that they seem to want their characters to BE rather amoral, being all about love and acceptance and tolerance but also brutally and remorselessly kill everyone in their way without hesitation, and the people making these statements don't see any kind of logical flaw. I dunno but that's WEIRD to me.)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Was reading an article about how to write a realistic romance and avoid common poorly-done tropes. Seemed like a pretty decent post. Then immediately noped out and closed the tab when they listed Zuko and Katara as an example of a well-written romance 🤡

"Here's how you write a good romance" *points to a dynamic that was not romantic and didn't have much screentime or any real development until the very end of the story*

Seems like the level of quality one can expect from the typical internet think-piece - just bullshit and a pretencious way of saying "my headcanon is better."

Also, fuck being "realistic", stories have to be GOOD and ENTERTAINING. Game Of Thrones would have been a worse show if Ned Stark had been saved at the last second, but the movie Snow White would have been completely ruined if prince charming had not saved her with true love's kiss. Jack dying at the end of Titanic fits the tone of "this was a tragedy in which lots of good, innocent people were killed and those who loved them will always grieve them", but Cinderella never being freed from her abusive family would have been a fundamental betrayal to the message it's trying to send to the audience.

You should ALWAYS focus on what makes sense for the specific story you're trying to tell. Would "love at first sight" fit the magical, wholesome vibe, or would it look corny and forced compared to the more down to earth plot? If you're not gonna have the characters live happilly ever after, did you properly set up the reasons for it, or are you just doing so because "happy endings are cliche"? If the romance between the two characters is toxic, you need to be writing either cautionary tale or a story in which the protagonist being "moral" isn't that important, you can NOT be trying to use them as an exemple of what love is supposed to be.

It all depends on the context. Realism is not inherently better than wish-fulfilment.

[northern-passage]

i've shared some of Alex Freed's narrative writing advice before and i recently read another article on his website that i really liked. particularly in branching/choice-based games, a lot of people often bring up the idea of the author "punishing" the player for certain choices. i agree that this is a thing that happens, but i disagree that it's always a bad thing. i think Freed makes a good case for it here.

...acting as the player’s judge (and jury, and executioner) is in some respects the primary job of a game’s developers. Moreover, surely all art emerges from the artist’s own experiences and worldview to convey a particular set of ideas. How does all that square with avoiding being judgmental?

[...]

Let’s first dispel–briefly–the idea that any game can avoid espousing a particular worldview or moral philosophy. Say we’re developing an open world action-adventure game set in a modern-day city. The player is able to engage any non-player character in combat at any time, and now we’re forced to determine what should occur if the player kills a civilian somewhere isolated and out of sight.

Most games either:

allow this heinous act and let the player character depart without further consequence, relying on the player’s own conscience to determine the morality of the situation.

immediately send police officers after the player character, despite the lack of any in-world way for the police to be aware of the crime.

But of course neither of these results is in any way realistic. The problems in the latter example are obvious, but no less substantial than in the former case where one must wonder:

Why don’t the police investigate the murder at a later date and track down the player then?

Why doesn’t the neighborhood change, knowing there’s a vicious murderer around who’s never been caught? Why aren’t there candlelight vigils and impromptu memorials?

Why doesn’t the victim’s son grow up to become Batman?

We construct our game worlds in a way that suits the genre and moral dimensions of the story we want to tell. There’s no right answer here, but the consequences we build into a game are inherently a judgment on the player’s actions. Attempting to simulate “reality” will always fail–we must instead build a caricature of truth that suggests a broader, more realized world. Declaring “in a modern city, murderous predators can escape any and all consequences” is as bold a statement on civilization and humanity as deciding “in the long run, vengeance and justice will always be served up by the victims of crime (metaphorically by means of a bat-costumed hero).”

Knowing that, what’s the world we want to build? What are the themes and moral compass points we use to align our game?

This is a relatively easy task when working with a licensed intellectual property. In Star Trek, we know that creativity, diplomacy, and compassion are privileged above all else, and that greed and prejudice always lead to a bad end. A Star Trek story in which the protagonist freely lies, cheats, and steals without any comeuppance probably stopped being a Star Trek story somewhere along the line. Game of Thrones, on the other hand, takes a more laissez-faire approach to personal morality while emphasizing the large-scale harm done by men and women who strive for power. (No one comes away from watching Game of Thrones believing that the titular “game” is a reasonable way to run a country.)

These core ideals should affect more than your game’s storytelling–they should dovetail with your gameplay loops and systems, as well. A Star Trek farming simulator might be a fun game, but using the franchise’s key ideals to guide narrative and mechanical choices probably won’t be useful. (“Maybe we reward the player for reaching an accord with the corn?”)

Know what principles drive your game world. You’re going to need that knowledge for everything that’s coming.

[...]

Teaching the player the thematic basics of your world shouldn’t be overly difficult–low-stakes choices, examples of your world and character arcs in a microcosm, gentle words of wisdom, obviously bad advice, and so forth can all help guide the player’s expectations. You can introduce theme in a game the way you would in any medium, so we won’t dwell on that here.

You can, of course, spend a great deal of time exploring the nuances of the moral philosophy of your game world across the course of the whole game. You’ll probably want to. So why is it so important to give the player the right idea from the start?

Because you need the player to buy into the kind of story that you’re telling. To some degree, this is true even in traditional, linear narratives: if I walk into a theater expecting the romcom stylings of The Taming of the Shrew and get Romeo and Juliet instead, I’m not going to be delighted by having my expectations subverted; I’m just going to be irritated.

When you give a player a measure of control over the narrative, the player’s expectations for a certain type of story become even stronger. We’ll discuss this more in the next two points, but don’t allow your player to shoot first and ask questions later in the aforementioned Star Trek game while naively expecting the story to applaud her rogue-ish cowboy ways. Interactive narrative is a collaborative process, and the player needs to be able to make an informed decision when she chooses to drive the story in a given direction. This is the pact between player and developer: “You show me how your world works, and I’ll invest myself in it to the best of my understanding.”

[...]

In order to determine the results of any given choice, you (that is, the game you’ve designed) must judge the actor according to the dictates (intended or implicit) of the game world and story. If you’re building a game inspired by 1940s comic book Crime Does Not Pay, then in your game world, crime should probably not pay.

But if you’ve set the player’s expectations correctly and made all paths narratively satisfying, then there can be no bad choices on the part of the player–only bad choices on the part of the player character which the player has decided to explore. The player is no more complicit in the (nonexistent) crimes of the player character than an author is complicit in the crimes of her characters. Therefore, there is no reason to attempt to punish or shame the player for “bad” decisions–the player made those decisions to explore the consequences with you, the designer. (Punishing the player character is just dandy, so long as it’s an engaging experience.)

[...]

It’s okay to explore difficult themes without offering up a “correct” answer. It’s okay to let players try out deeds and consequences and decide for themselves what it all means. But don’t forget that the game is rigged. [...]

Intentionally or not, a game judges and a game teaches. It shows, through a multiplicity of possibilities, what might happen if the player does X or Y, and the player learns the unseen rules that underlie your world. Embracing the didactic elements of your work doesn’t mean slapping the player’s wrist every time she’s wrong–it means building a game where the player can play and learn and experiment within the boundaries of the lesson.

[u-n-lucky-being]

𝔐𝔲𝔡𝔡𝔩𝔢𝔡 𝔅𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔰

Part 1: 𝔚𝔥𝔬 ℑ 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔟𝔢

INFJ x ENTP

Tags: f!INFJ, m!ENTP, ft. m!ENTJ, ENTJ is an asshole in this one (sorry to all my ENTJ who are not machiavellian tyrants <3 love you all), lovers to enemies (kinda), kingdom setting, there’s an insurgence, kind of historical fiction (…I think? I’m not sure how this genre is called), angst, betrayal, threats of torture, threats of murder, mentions of murder, threats of rape (nothing explicit, I promise), mentions of violence, mentions of war, curse words are used, I’m bad at tagging, this was supposed to be a oneshot but I think it will end up having at least three parts :’) hurt no comfort (comfort in the next parts), I don’t know what else to add, please tell me if I should add anything else.

Word count: 3.6k

Summary: INFJ had been stupid enough to trust the wrong person, and now was paying the consequences. Not only was her life at risk, but also the entire cause she had been fighting for. All because she allowed herself to be fooled by someone’s lies… but, perhaps there had been some truth in them. For ENTP everything had gone according to his and ENTJ’s plan, except for the fact that he now regretted everything. Willing to right his wrongs, he decides to start a new, riskier plan.

(Part 2: 𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 ℑ 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔲𝔰 𝔱𝔬 𝔟𝔢)

(Part 3: 𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔴𝔢 𝔴𝔢r𝔢)

(Part 4: 𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔴𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔢)

A/N: Ok, so this started as: “Oh, people suggests using the MBTI cognitive functions to built a more realistic character” went into “Haha some people has turned the MBTI stereotypes into characters; how cute”, then “And they ship them? I mean, weird ig, but ok…”, to “;-; why am I getting invested in these ships?” and somehow ended up here :D (Seriously after the biggest writer block of my life my brain decided to pull an allnighter to plan out and write THIS?) Just wanted to clarify that this is based on the MBTI stereotypes and tailored for the role I assigned them in this story, so please don’t feel offended if you happen to have the same MBTI as any of them but would never act like them. The same thing about shipping- I’m just shipping the stereotyped-characters. With all of that said… I have NO idea how I ended up with this angsty mess but… hope someone out there will like it I guess. English is not my first language so I apologize if anything sounds funny. Feel free to leave any feedback, as it is very appreciated.

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There she was. Vulnerable, defeated, humilliated, but above everything else: hurt.

As she laid in the cold floor forced to kneel to the king, she realized that she really did not care about the bruises on her body, nor the ones on her ego- but the ones on her heart seemed hard to ignore.

ENTJ laughed softly as he rosed from his throne, slowly approaching her “Are you sure that this one is the one who has been causing us so much trouble? She doesn’t really looks like it.”

To INFJ the voice that replied sounded as cold as the floor under her. “She is the one. I made sure to confirm it myself.” said ENTP; though she refused to raise her head to see him, she could hear the familiar smirk on his face.

Stupid. She had been so stupid. She had been the perfect spy because she was able to enter into any fortress while being a fortress herself; she gained anyone’s trust easily, but she trusted no one.

Except that she let him in. She trusted him.

For what? He played her at her own game and now…

Whatever had happened to her or would happen to her did not matter, not really, but the future of those who had depended upon her was at risk because she failed.

She would not fail them twice.

“How many days do you think it would get to break her?” asked ENTJ while she heard his steps getting closer “Two? Three days on the torture chamber?” ENTJ’s feet suddenly appeared in her eyesight and she lifted her head to look at him in the eye. Defiant. She felt pathetic, weak and dumb but as hell she would show it to him.

He laughed again, “Oh, she’s fierce nonetheless.” Taking her chin forcefully with his hand to look better at her face, he added “and pretty too. I could even think of different ways to make her scream other than torture.”

She swallowed hard and turned slightly paler at that last part; his grin widened “What is it, love? Are you more scared of the promise of pleasure than that of pain?” he chuckled letting go of her chin only to place his hand with more force on her neck “Perhaps we might actually consider a different form of interrogation for this one.”

INFJ felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She would rather death. She would rather the most painful torture than what this man infront of her was implying.

A sharp metal sound suddenly broke the silence, and though she could not move her head to see what had happened the voice ENTP quickly followed said sound.

“Pardon me. So unusual of me to be this clumsy.”

ENTJ eyes swiftly moved from her face towards the place where she knew ENTP stood. After what seemed to be a silent conversation between the two, the first one scoffed “Yeah; unusual” and let go of her neck, finally allowing her to breathe again. He had not been using enough force to block her airways, but pure terror had stopped her from breathing at all.

After the man returned to his throne, he looked at the girl on the ground once again. Despite of the slip of fear she had just had, she took once more the mask of cold defiance she had initially borne. ENTJ smiled almost sarcastically at that.

“We will attempt our usual route of interrogation first. If that doesn’t work… I might have to get creative.” this time she didn’t let it show how those words shook her to the core “Take her to the cells.”

And after that simple order two pair of hands that she had known to be behind her forced her to her feet and took her out of the room. As they did she cast one glance at the person who had put her on this position.

He looked back at her. Those eyes she had loved were now the most horrific sight she could find in this whole castle. She had truly believed that he loved her back, that he understood her as much as she had known him, that she had finally found someone to rely on. But now, she knew that he had lied, that she had not known him at all, and that she betrayed herself as much as he betrayed her by daring to let her guard down.

Her heart still ached, but it wasn’t because of his betrayal. It was because the person she had known, had loved, had given her trust to, was but a fantasy. This man that was looking at her, she did not know. She definetely didn’t love him, and now was wise enough to know better than to trust anyone. This man had handed her to her death, and perhaps worse things than death, as if she was nothing to him; but at least she could say that this stranger was nothing to her as well.

Once his face had been gone from her sight she repeated those last words as many times as she needed until every part of her body, mind and soul believed them.

That stranger was nothing to her.

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He was not used to the intoxicating sensation of fear.

He had felt fear in his life and for his life, of course, it was a common thing to have under the commands of people like general ENTJ. But for him, those were rare instances; as if he had always been too brave or too stupid, and had somehow become almost inmune to it.

Almost.

“So, are you gonna explain yourself or do you want me to guess what was that back there?”

They were in ENTJ’s chamber. The royal chamber. Five years ago they had seized power from the last king (may he rest in pieces) as general ENTJ had convinced himself that he had not been fit for the throne and that what the nation needed was a stronger and ambitious leader who actually dared to be the change this nation needed. Many believed him to be right, ENTP being one of them. The financial situation from before was enough to move sufficient men and women towards their cause, which ultimately lead to their success.

But of course, there were those who were against this. Their motivations of various kinds. Many of them guided merely by the fact that this new political climate did not benefit them; very few others talked about justice and laws and actually meant it. Whether caused by the first or second group, the whispers that called ENTJ a tyrant began spreading soon enough. Nonetheless, it didn’t really matter, as it had been easy to keep them all under control, one way or another. At least, until a group of rebels began causing them trouble two years ago.

And that’s where ENTP’s and INFJ’s stories intertwined.

ENTP made sure to act as he usually did. Carefree, witty, slightly smug. And that was his exact expression when he answered to his commander and king “What? About my slippery hands?”

“As if I was stupid enough to fall for your bullshit.” Despite ENTJ’s calm expression he could tell he was not calm at all. “You dropped the same knife I gave you after slitting the old king’s throat. Tell me, honestly, could you really consider such thing as an accident?- Should I be worrying that one of my trusted circle is threatening me?” despite his tone remaining neutral, ENTP could hear the warning behind it, telling him to be careful of what he was about to say next.

ENTP chuckled softly and threw himself over one of the chairs of the room. Relaxed. He needed to be relaxed. “Fine. I admit it. I dropped the knife on purpose. Though it being that especific knife, was not.”

Now it was ENTJ’s turn to chuckle. Whether he believed that last part or not was out of ENTP’s knowledge. “So, I was right.” he uttered “Tell me, did you felt jealous of me touching your little pet?”

His expression remained as carefree as always, but ENTP could feel the ice slowly expanding through his chest. “You got me wrong, my friend.” He spat “It was not about who you were touching or who you were threatening. It was about what you were threatening her with.” ENTP sat a little straighter and allowed some of the ice within him to come out as he said “We are not the type to do such things. Have you forgotten? Or maybe power already started to mess with that head of yours?” Though a smile remained carefully placed in his face, there was nothing warm or friendly about it “Perhaps you are starting to believe those who call you a tyrant.”

“Perhaps you are forgetting who we are dealing with.” the King replied back as coolly. ENTJ turned his back to ENTP and began examining the papers that laid over his desk, “That girl has been informing about every move, every decision, every plan, that we have made for the last years. She is the reason we have been dealing with so many issues. She is the reason that pathetic group of insurgents became an actual threat to us. She is the reason we have been unable to move forwards with our plans of expansion. And she might be the cause of our downfall if we are not careful now.” His voice slowly grew more bitter as he spoke. “In case you also forgot, we might not be tyrants but we aren’t fond of playing by the rules; are we?” he asked rhetorically turning to face him once more, “Even when their little insurgence is not half as capable as they believe it to be, we still need the support of our neighbor nations if we want to keep our own afloat; at least, till we are strong enough. They might have not turn against us after we took the power, but if they realize that we are not as fond of following their dear proceedures and codes as they are, they might. If proof of some of our moves gets leaked, we are done. We cannot let that happen before we are ready.” He declared vigorously.

ENTP did not overlooked how ENTJ insisted on talking in plural. The message was clear: if ENTJ could be considered a tyrant, so could he. And if ENTJ would go down, so would him. “But you already got the girl locked up.” he pointed, attempting to return to his more casual attitude “She won’t be an issue any longer. There’s nothing to fear. So I still don’t understand the reasoning behind your threats.”

The commander actually laughed at that, though there was not any trace of joy found in it. “You, my friend, can be very smart. But sometimes you are just as stupid.” He proceeded to explain, “First, and the most obvious reason, is that she still holds valuable information. Information that not even you could get out of her. Names, hiding spots, plans, perhaps there might even be another rat between us; she will know all of that.”

“So your justification of becoming worse than an animal will be to get information out of her.” ENTP retorted; the same ice from before threatening to come out once more.

ENTJ almost laughed again, “You fool. It is not about what we actually do to someone. Is about what they fear we might do.” he smiled almost simpathetically to him “Don’t trouble your mind, I won’t lay a finger on her. But, I need her to fear I might if she refuses to cooperate during the interrogations.”

Whatever kind of relief the first part of that sentence might have given ENTP was quickly extinguished by the last. He knew what interrogations in this castle were. Even before they took power, their nation had always been known for the severety of its treatment towards those who dared to act out of line. That’s something that the revolution took advantage of when they first raised: they were the first group in decades that dared to publicly go against the crown despite of the possible consequences; in the eyes of the people they were brave and determined, and in the eyes of their enemies they were indomitable and impredictable. Once they had become the ones in power, ENTJ decided to use such reputation in his favor, so he continued with the tradition.

There were lines they won’t cross, of course, like what he had just been complaining about to ENTJ; but that didn’t mean that the route towards those lines was not a painful, bloody one.

And his imagination had already started to turn against him by imagining INFJ in each one of the probable scenarios he knew would happen. The same fear he had constantly been in since she had officially become a prisioner, slicing him inside out. Not even the times he had feared for his very own life could compare.

But, relaxed. He needed to appeared relaxed.

“Very well then, its good to know that my friend is still a man and not a beast.” He forced himself to appear curious rather than terrified “But what is the other reason?”

ENTJ smiled slightly more earnestly at him than he had been doing during their whole conversation “I need her to make an example out of her- and just killing her won’t be enough. Like I said in the throne room, I need her to break.” The commander approached a little chess set he had placed on a small table, and took one of its pieces in his hand. “She is the first important player we’ve caught from the insurgent group. You yourself know firsthand how much they relied on her. Even the leaders. If we just kill her, they will make her a martyr; that would be like adding fuel to a fire. But,” slowly he placed the piece back in its place “if we show them that we can turn one of their stronger players into a mere shell, ready to crack under any pressure,” he grinned and looked ENTP directly in the eyes “we will finally begin to crush that rebellion to death. If we manage to display her publicly in absolute despair, that same despair with spread across the other rebels and begin to kill their cause inside out. After that, we can kill her.”

'Make an example out her' he had said, but by that he had meant to make a show out of her misery.

Fear. He was still not used to this sensation and he hated it. Just like he had started hating the man infront of him with every particle of his body. Just like he had hated himself since he brought this upon her.

ENTP knew that he was no innocent; he had done as much if not more of the pulling of the strings behind the curtains during their rise to power. And ENTJ was right; they had not exactly been too ‘correct’ in their ways. But, he had always believed that the ends would justify the means. That what they have done wrong could be righted by the good that it would cause eventually. Nevertheless, time passed and ENTJ and the rest of his followers had just become more cold, more bold, more vengeful- at first justifying themselves saying that it was necessary measures to ensure respect, then blaming the insurgeance and the need to end it for their merciless acts.

And the worst part was… there were still no results. The economy remained in shambles, crime rates kept going up, the people was still miserable, and now more than ever fear ruled over everything. But either delusion or actual curruption kept them settled in their ways, while still predicating the same speech that had first convinced people to put their trust upon them.

He had remained blind to it all during most of it- or well, perhaps not blind but unwilling to see the truth. Unwilling to see what power was turning their cause into, a cause that he was sure had began with good intentions. He lied and convinced himself that eventually things would turn right.

But after getting to know someone from the other side- someone who taught him that fighting fire with fire would never not lead to just more smoke and ashes, and that the only way to right a wrong was to make it right to begin with… He could now see.

Yet, it had been too late at the moment to keep it all from coming to this. And he feared that if he took a misstep right now it might become to late to keep INFJ from encountering the fate ENTJ had just described for her.

After staring at ENTP for a few seconds ENTJ added “But… it seems I’ve misjudged how possessive you’ve become over the girl.”

Sometimes it surprised ENTP how easily his insides could go from iced bitterness to scorching rage. It also surprised him how good he could be at feigning indifference. He scoffed “As if. I already told you I don’t have any particular interest on her. She was fun to toy with, nothing else. She’s yours to do as you please.”

ENTJ continued staring him down, as if trying to get the truth out of him. But, after a while he simply nodded and said “Very well then. That’s good to hear, because I figured that she might be more compliant if you are in the room during tomorrow’s interrogation.”

His heart sunk in his chest, but he did his best to remain on his role “I doubt that’ll work. If anything her hate for me might make her harder to work with.”

The king sneered “Oh, does that means she is fond of me?”

ENTP replied “Her hate towards you is… general, my dear commander. As if she hates you, but not you, but rather the idea of you. But me,” he smiled smugly despite how those same words he was about to say cutted deeply through him “I am a personal issue.”

ENTJ turned to his desk once again, “Maybe you are right; but I’m actually relying on those strong feelings for you. Whether that’s love or hate or both, strong emotions always make someone easier to manipulate.” He moved his face only enough to look at his subordinate directly in the eyes as he said “You will be there tomorrow.” It was an order, not a suggestion, so ENTP knew better than to argue against it.

“Fine, we’ll see if your plan works tomorrow.” And with that he rose from his chair and turned to the door.

The only thing ENTJ said before ENTP could leave the room was “They always do.”

It was already nightfall when he finally found the opportunity to go into the cells without being noticed.

Since he had left his commander’s chambers he could barely think of anything besides the girl that was trapped inside those walls. He needed to come; to warn her of what would take place tomorrow, and what could come afterwards.

But also, because he needed to see her.

He saw her laying down on the floor; perhaps asleep, perhaps unconcious. Ice ran through his veins at the prospect of the second. He rushed to take out the keys he had stolen from the guards and went inside. The sound of the cell’s door opening immediately made her jump- so asleep it was then.

ENTP could tell that she recognized him as quickly as she saw him. She became almost unnaturally still, her eyes becoming stone cold, just as they had done the only time she had deigned to look at him in the throne room. He hated that look; he could have dealt with the expected looks of hatred, of anger, of betrayal, anything that indicated what she thought of him. Anything that could be taken as the residue of what she once felt for him.

But that look- it killed him. It was as if nothing had ever been there.

Though he admitted to himself that it would have been better for her if it had been that way.

He looked away from her eyes and dared to look at the rest of her. She lied on the floor, reclined against the same wall she was shackled to. Same clothes he had saw her wearing just yesterday's night, right before it all went to hell. But now they were torned, dirty- and bloodied. If he had to guess, she could barely keep herself up. Bruises covered her from head to toe. Despite that he had not been who caused them himself directly, he knew he was responsible for every one of them.

She had fight all the way into her capture. She only stopped fighting when she saw him standing side by side with the king, a fake grin on his face as the words left his mouth “Your Highness, I present to you: the spy”.

It pained him beyond anything he could express to see her like this. He was the first to move, advancing towards her to try to examine her wounds. But, of course, he should have thought better than to act without saying anything before, as she tensed and tried to move away from him before he could reach her.

For her, he was no longer someone she could trust. He was the enemy.

“I won’t hurt you” was the first words that he could think to say, raising his palms up as if that could somehow prove his words to be truthful.

She laughed bitterly “You expect me to believe you?”

Fair. It was fair from her, but right now there was no time to explain or argue with her. “No, but right now I just want to help, alright? Please let me-”

“Fuck off!” she yelled moving as far as she could “Help! Anyone hel-”

He launched himself towards her, pressing her against the wall as gently as he could while his hand covering her mouth to keep her from alerting the guards of his presence. If anyone realized he was here, all of their hopes would be lost.

INFJ began trembling, her eyes panicked while she struggled to push him away.

His heart sank in his chest. She was terrified of him. And she had every right to be. What used to be a playful act, a flirty situation, a moment of closeness, now could only be considered a threatening situation for her in every aspect.

ENTP backed away slightly, giving her as much space as he could without risking her to cause a scene.

“I won’t hurt you. I know you don’t have any reason to believe me, but please listen. Just once.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Part 2: 𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 ℑ 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔲𝔰 𝔱𝔬 𝔟𝔢

Part 3: 𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔴𝔢 𝔴𝔢r𝔢

Part 4: 𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔴𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔢

[amaiguri]

The WIP Questionaire

Thanks so so much from @verba-writing for the tag! I had such a fun time reading your answers too and I'm very excited for paranormal romance 😍

I feel like I wanna flag that a lot of my answers are very anime/gaming-sphere oriented and I hope I'm not totally alienating my mutuals by revealing just HOW MUCH I'm not a book person lololol But this is with what we're working:

The Questions are:

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

The very first thing I made was the high premise: It was synthesized from the Overly Sarcastic Productions question "What if all the Kings Under the Mountain came back...?" and then I added the context "...in a Nuclear Crisis to discuss piece?" And in my head, it was this HBO-style modern fantasy Game of Thrones meets West Wing type deal. But then... I didn't want to write the modern piece. (The modern piece should be written by people in countries from all over Europe about what it means to be a hero in various cultures.)

So I set it in 1800s fantasy world instead!

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

The first arc would be Dance in the Game by Zaq

The second arc would be Lacrimosa by Kalafina

The Gods' Arc would be Paper Boquet by Mili

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

Is it to cliché to be like "my current self-insert protagonist is my favorite character I've ever made"? Her and my antagonist are just THE BEST and I love them.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

Mmm, I think Untitled Yssaia Game's story would appeal to queer Game of Thrones fans who could FEEL the straightness in GoT, especially if they also like anime. I would hope I could get general anime fans as well as Arcane and Genshin Impact fans, but I feel like those are too mainstream and Yssaia is not. Realistically, I think I'm gonna get the Wadanohara people and the Ib people and, if I get really lucky, the To the Moon people.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Marketing lol -- explaining what it is to people in a way that they realize they want it.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Fuafua 🥺🥺🥺

Look at her! She is a six-legged, six-eyed slug cat called a Maret. Marets fill the same role as ocelots in Yssaia, except they're more semi-aquatic like otters and their skin has a stressball-like texture.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

They walk or ride Rumateurs (which are alpaca-like beings with ossicones) or take ships or airships or trains. I don't like writing about travel that much though so it is a background element.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

I am pre-editing the first arc for my alpha readers and the third arc has another 50k to 100k words to draft. We're at like 250k words total right now and it is so unwieldy 😭😭😭

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

Oh, I have a convenient graphic for this. Hang on...

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I was just diatribing about this earlier but the DREAM is to turn it into an RPGmaker adventure game and have it go viral and make a million bucks off it. I'd love to be the next Undertale but it'll never happen because I am not positioned to be the next Undertale, you know?

So yeah, that's what's what! Thanks again for the ask! This was so fun! I'm gonna pass this to @maiemorrae, @moonfeatherblue, @zebee-nyx, @winterandwords, @modernwritercraft, @words-after-midnight, @spideronthesun, @theprissythumbelina, @thepanplate, @thetruearchmagos, @maskedemerald, @moondust-bard, @pluttskutt and @emelkae 😍😍😍 I actually internalized Verba's WIP so well from this tag and I wanna make sure I'm updated on what all you cool people are working on! Open tag to any of my other moots too! 🥳

IMPORTANTTTTT⚠️

I will edit this to have a blank easily copy-and-pasteable question section when I get back to my computer. If I forget, @ me!

[lemonhemlock]

So I don't know how unpopular of an opinion this is lmao, since I am a dirty neutral and not on either team green or team black, but the perception of Otto from both sides is very interesting and weird to me. This is related to your other asks about how the fandom refuses to engage with the medieval feudal setting and is constantly projecting modern sensibilities. I see Otto get called one of the worst men in the series, a pimp, etc. and I just.....don't get it? And do not see it that way.

Noble parents' main job was quite literally to make the best marriage match possible for their kids. Why settle for a mere lord/minor noble when Otto could get the literal king of the 7K for his daughter? Yes, he was quite older than her (in the show, in the book the age gap was not a big deal at all she was 18 and Viserys 30 iirc), etc. but a vast majority of nobles would want an older king for their daughter than a young minor noble that doesn't bring much to the plate? Is it fair to the kids? Who may want to marry for love, or a more age appropriate match? Sure, but......marriage is a business deal, a way to bring two houses together and merge bloodlines. Also, just realistically, a lot of these nobles' daughters in real life would have preferred a wealthier, more powerful noble or a minor lord as well. A woman's power is first derived from her father, and then her husband.

I'm a history buff and have read/studied this time period since I was a pre-teen and have been watching historical dramas for decades at this point. Otto really isn't some unique 'evil' or an 'evil' at all, he played the game and won by nabbing a king for his daughter. For a franchise built off of smartly 'playing the game of thrones' it's hilarious how Otto is demonized for this by both teams. Also, how was Otto supposed to predict that Viserys would be the one king in the history of monarchy in the 7K to pass over multiple trueborn sons for his faildaughter (Rhaenyra still being heir after Aegon's birth is nothing but the most unrealistic, laughable, Mary Sue plot armor by GRRM lol). For all intents and purposes, Otto should have won and Hightower blood should have gone to sit the throne for generations.

No, I quite agree with you, anon, and argued the same in the past. Otto is far from the moustache-twirling villain the fandom paints him as. He is also a second son and he has to hustle for his social status to an extent. Yes, his family is rich and that will take him far in society, but he does actually hold a job. His daughter marrying the King is quite the victory. Of course, like you said, he couldn't have known that Viserys would really keep Rhaenyra as the nominal heir - even in the show this is specifically shown to be not expected in the slightest, not just by Otto, but by the court as well. And, of course, he couldn't have known that show!Viserys would turn into the ultimate leper and have half his face fall off by the time of his agonising death. When Viserys married Alicent, he seemed a healthy man, not decrepit at all, reasonable and with a kind and jolly disposition.

Was this 100% in Alicent's benefit? Of course not, we've seen a version of her on screen that painfully suffered in a society that doesn't allow for the exploration of her sexuality. But it very well could have gone differently. In the books, there is a smaller age difference, Viserys' weight causes him health issues, yes, but he isn't actively decomposing, Alicent isn't a lesbian woman pining after her step-daughter, who is quite a different age than her, and she doesn't seem so miserable in her marriage to Viserys. He also doesn't continuously ignore his children with Alicent; at least with Helaena and her children he maintains a warm relationship, so there's no reason to think he was pretending his other three sons don't exist.

Does that mean that book!Viserys' marriage with book!Alicent was perfect, to completely exonerate Otto? Probably not, he still didn't name Aegon his heir, but it's a different, ~better outcome than the show, at least for the duration of Alicent's stint as queen consort.

[ask-a-w]

Continued to watch Part 3 & Part 4 of Nick Apostolides play RE4R and wrote down some interesting stuff that they shared happened while filming.

Parts 1 & 2 here.

Part 3:

- Steve (cinematics director) loved Marcio as Salazar.

- Marcio is not good at playing RE4R lol and died within 30 seconds.

- They are teasing Marcio about his sexy music videos.

- Marcio first filmed other characters in RE4R before filming Salazar. For the first few days of filming, Steve promised Marcio that his part is coming.

- Marcio also read for Luis and Leon too. He jokingly said the part of Leon should go to Nick.

- Steve usually doesn’t play the games he directed.

- Nick & Marcio keep playfully heckling each other during this playthrough and it’s hilarious. Steve also ribs Nick too and Nick jokingly says Steve & Marcio aren’t invited to his barbecues anymore.

- Nick doesn’t remember recording “No, you can’t keep him” when Leon brings Ashley down to the dungeon where the first Garrador is. Genevieve remembers it briefly but was not told the context.

- Steve was surprised to see a portrait that vaguely looks like him in the sword puzzle room.

- Marcio has a tabby cat named Charly and Steve said he can imagine Salazar having a fluffy white cat and petting him. Gen has a cat too. (I am a huge cat lover and it’s amazing to see many RE VAs have kitties!)

- Nick & Gen find the zombies in The Last of Us more “realistic” since cordecyps exists in real life. As almost all of the RE4R VAs are based in Canada, they said when TLOU was going to be filmed in Canada, practically everyone they knew asked their agents to have a chance to audition in TLOU.

- Nick accidentally threw a grenade at Ashley in the playthrough and Gen mock scolded Nick for killing her. 🤣 He also roundhouse kicks Ashley when she’s standing too close to a cultist.

- Marcio is mock offended the cultists “are taking a shit in his fountains” in the water room.

- Gen & Nick got stuck to each other a few times when they filmed the first scene of Ashley getting possessed by Saddler ‘cos the mocap suits have a lot of Velcro.

- Gen was shown videos of Christopher (Saddler) saying some of Saddler lines in order to channel Saddler’s mannerisms for the possession scene.

- They filmed many versions of the Leon & Ada choreography before settling on what we see in-game. There is a stunt team to do the action scenes, so Nick & Lily do not do any stunts because their head cameras restrict movements. After the stunts are filmed, Nick & Lily come in to do the effort sounds and facial capture. Then everything is spliced together to the cutscene in the game.

- Steve likes big brother Leon in RE4R compared to “charm the ladies” Leon in OG RE4.

- Marcio played the cultists that ambush Leon when the cage comes down on him. He also remembered playing the cultist that got stabbed and used as a human shield.

- After the sequence where you play as Ashley, Andre (Luis) played the cultist slumped over the lever while Marcio played the Verdugo. Marcio is carrying a dummy when Ada spots the Verdugo carrying Ashley to the throne room.

- Andre & Marcio also played the cultists that held Ashley as she drank the black liquid. Marcio was the Verdugo in that cutscene as well.

- Nick did not do the physical scene where Leon free-falls down the pit, that goes to the stunt team. Only Nick’s face was captured for that part.

Part 4:

- A separate team in Japan mocapped all the characters’ in-game movements. The voice actors did not do them.

- Andre said it was fun recording Luis cheering Leon in the shooting range.

- Gen does not remember mocapping Ashley sitting on the barrel, it could have been done by the Japan team.

- The mocap suits weren’t itchy but the suits trap a lot of body heat and it gets very warm wearing them. Gen said the room was very cold during filming and never felt like she overheating.

- During mocap, there will be another screen featuring the characters’ models for the VAs to refer to. Andre had a lot of fun doing the floss dance and watch the Luis model do the same on the screen.

- If the VA removed their head cam (referred to as HMC), their character’s head would be hanging and look scary.

- Gen cut off her hair halfway through filming as long hair was very cumbersome for mocapping. The HMC can be pretty tight and if one is filming the whole day, it can be hard to concentrate on filming the lines at the end of the day as the helmet constricts the head quite a bit.

- There are a lot of tech challenges for mocap. There’s the camera, battery packs, audio pack, Velcro, marker dots, etc… All of them must be in place or else it messes up the filming process.

- Andre shows off his cat, Luca (spelling?). Soo many cute cats!! He fawns over Gen’s cat on stream as well.

- Everything is more grounded in RE4R. Andre appreciates that RE4R Luis can express his flirtatious personality without being crude & creepy.

- They love how they balanced Ashley’s small crush on Leon without making it too forward but still have Leon be a professional and being a big-brother character to her.

- They joke about Leon & Luis jumping off the mine cart being very RE6-ish. Nick likes RE6 and finds it fun to play four campaigns as they have different play styles. He can understand why people don’t find it to be a classic RE game though.

- Andre was given an emotional cookie on the day he filmed Luis’ death scene. He said it was a cool filming day though.

- Nick did not mocap the knife fighting when Leon first encounters Krauser but he voluntarily did knife training when he learned he was cast in RE4R… and he wasn’t that good at it. Capcom hired professional knife fighters in Japan to mocap the knife fighting. Mike (Krauser) and Nick only did the facial captures, effort sounds like grunts, and voice lines. Nick & Mike’s filming for this scene starts off from when Leon is kicked off the platform and they stand up to fight.

- Leon might have some PTSD from having to lose a mentor again, since he had to use Marvin’s knife to fight Krauser.

- Nick says Leon & Ada’s relationship is indeed very different in RE4R and yes, he does give off some “done with her shit” vibes. Nick will have Lily on the stream in the future (probably for the island section?) so maybe both of them will talk more about this.

- They start talking about pets and what pets would the characters have. Leon would be a dog person, Luis would be a cat person, Ashley’s probably a dog person but since she’s in college right now, a small pet like a mouse or ferret. 😆

- Topic branches off on how Leon can eat the fish, snake, eggs, rhinoceros beetle all raw in game and everyone jokingly discuss how his mother must have had a tough time telling him not to put moving creatures in his mouth as a child. 🤣

- The VAs recount how they ate play-doh in real life and other random stuff as kids. Gen apparently ate wallpaper as a baby ‘cos the glue was sweet.

- Nick has eaten giant winged ants while helping to build a sustainable protein farm in a remote region in South-East Asia. He was surprised that it tasted like buttered popcorn.

- They talk about an event happening in Canada and mentioned how it’s gonna sell fried Mars bars, and fried Oreos which caught Nick’s attention. (If you don’t know, Nick is obsessed with Oreos.)

- VAs start to speculate how would deep fried plaga taste like. Taste like fried chicken/alligator with vinegar?

[bringerofplagues]

Some underrated ASOIAF characters who deserve more attention

As the title says, this post will be about some of my favourite ASOIAF characters who i think deserve more attention.

Aurane Waters:

The first character on this list is Aurane Waters. Now Auranes story isn’t very deep but he is fun, entertaining and cool as hell. So he starts out fighting with Stannis at the battle of blackwater bay, then he ends up joining Cersei on the small council and manages to charm her by looking like Rhaegar, and then he runs off with her newly build navy. Now i do not like Cersei so people who can play her and beat her at her own game instantly have a place in my heart. I should also mention that i love pirates and there is strong evidence that Aurane will become the pirate king known as the Lord of The Waters using the ships he stole from Cersei. This also puts him in an interesting position going forward as he could realistically join any faction in the current conflict and be a big player which is really cool. My last point is this, just look at him, the dude absolutely fucks:

Rodrik Harlaw, aka The Reader: Rodrik is Asha and Theons maternal uncle and he is my favourite ironborn character. In many ways he reminds me of Doran Martell, an fatherly figure to a female pov character who is noted to be more cautious than the people around him and who is looked down upon by many within his culture. I also like his quirk of loving books, even having had septons at his home to help him care for his collection. I also love his relationship with Asha, being a better father figure to her than Balon was ,as well as her biggest supporter (that title might be challenged by Qarl and Tristifer). He also seems to be scheming to protect Asha from her forced marriage by overturning the kingsmoot, as he sends her a book that specifically mentions that a kingsmoot can be nullified if a claimant was not present, in this case that would be Theon. And then there was the time he owned Euron the Incel with just 2 words. Euron was bragging about having sailed to Valyria when Rodrik says: “Have you?” which clearly pisses Euron off. Fucking legend

Brynden Rivers, Aka Bloodraven: Ok so, Bloodraven does get a lot of attention especially from the theorist community who have the saying “when in doubt blame Bloodraven”. But i don’t think enough people give attention to him as a character. The cool thing about Bloodravens character is that he seems to be a product of his enviroment. Bloodraven grew up in kings landing as one of the great bastards of king Aegon The Unworthy. He famously suffered albinism which resulted in him having to wear heavy black clothes all of his life. This would have gone on since his childhood, and we know that this trade made people not trust him. So people have apparently distrusted him since he could walk outside. Imagine what that does to a kid. And then at some point he figures out he is a skinchanger. And that is when he becomes the master of the game of thrones and worlds best spymaster.I love this because a lot of characters justify their distrust of him because of how good of a spy he is, but he became that way because no one trusted him. And lets not forget that he was apparently a really nice military leader. At least enough to where most of his private army, The Ravens Teeth, decided to join him on the wall despite being under no obligation to do so. That show some major respect from his men. And at last he has some really cool Odin symbolism going on with the one eye and the ravens and all that.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph! Wondering if you have any fic recs to recommend us? Anything would do, but preferably Johnlock without a third party involved (no infidelity, etc). Thank youu

Hey Nonny!!

Thank you SO much for this very broad ask, since I have a few lists ready-to-go but no asks to attach them to! Hmmmm... How about this list, should be good for no-infidelity but LOTS of angst before a happy ending! :)

Sadly, I just discovered that Tumblr doesn't let me make my lists as long as I used to be able to, so I unfortunately had to cut out half the fics on this list, so there IS a part two to this one, but no ask I can add it to, so if you'd like to see MORE Sherlock POV Angst, let me know!! <3

As usual, please add your own fics if you have any!

POV SHERLOCK 3rd PERSON Pt. 3: ANGST / ANGSTY FLUFF or BAMF FICS Pt.1

See also:

POV Sherlock 1st & 2nd Person

POV Sherlock 3rd Person Pt. 1: Fluff

POV Sherlock 3rd Person Pt 2: Hurt/Comfort & Whump

Speechless by jeansmarco (K, 562 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship) – John asks Sherlock to be his best man and Sherlock is speechless.

Illuminating Worlds and Wastes Alike by Poedhamerons (G, 775 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF, Watching Over John, Pining Sherlock) – There is a space of time between Sherlock dying and having to pluck apart the spider's web. Sherlock spends it the only way he knows how. Part 1 of Stars

Burn Burn by Jenn1984 (K+, 925 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TGG, Angst, Worried / Panicked / Possessive Sherlock) – A week after the events of "The Great Game", Sherlock returns to 221B Baker Street to find it empty.

His by I'm Nova (T, 1,042 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Possessive Sherlock) – Sherlock doesn't share what he's fond of.

Sherlock's Mind Palace by Valkyrie Of The Dead (K+, 1,091 w.,  1 Ch. ||  Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Deaths, Self Reflection) – Sherlock needs to change his mind-palace once again. He had hoped he wouldn't, he had thought he wouldn't, because they were invincible, weren't they?

Sherlock's soldier!John Kink is Getting Out of Hand by wendymarlowe (E, 1,247 w., 1 Ch. || Secret Crush, Military Kink, Masturbation) – Sherlock's got a secret kink. And a secret box where he hides his pictures of John in uniform. And a very, very secret crush on his flatmate.

Untouchable by greengrapegaze (T, 1,368 w., 1 Ch. || Pre-S3, UST/URT, Oblivious John, Lonely Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Emotional Sherlock, POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock) – “He never would. Petty, childish, immature-bitter. Jealous. She had all that he wanted. All he could never have.” Part 1 of Steps to a Bittersweet Symphony

Angel by MrsNoggin(T, 1,513 w., 1 Ch. || Winglock, Friendship, Chromoesthesia, Drugging) – John is an angel. That can be the only explanation. A response to the challenging request for a realistic wingfic one-shot.

Conciliatory Coffee (It's All Fine) by dget (K+, 1,635 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt / Comfort, Friendship, Post-TRF Reunion) – "He can feel John's shuddering breaths in his own lungs, feel John's heart beating behind his own sternum." Because John Watson is a doctor, and Sherlock Holmes is a detective, and neither really knows how to be anything else. A post-Reichenbach reunion oneshot. Can be read as Johnlock.

Upon This Throne by ifonlynotnever (T, 1,773 w., 1 Ch. || Pre-TRF, Angst, Romance, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Introspection, Imagery, Pining Sherlock, Drug Use, Passage of Time) – Inside Sherlock's mind is a Palace. Inside the Palace are many rooms. Within the largest room is the Throne. Upon the Throne sits the King.

One in Ten Thousand by Blind Author (K+, 1,856 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TGG, Friendship / Pre-Slash, Discussions of Violence, Worried then Curious Sherlock, Scars/John’s Bullet Wound, Medical Anomalies) – John seems to have unusual mobility for a shoulder wound…

Take My Hand, Knot Your Fingers Through Mine by patster223 (K+, 2,003 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt / Comfort, Friendship, Whump, Pining Sherlock) - "I know this is an inconvenience for you, but I would really rather you were awake right now, John." John is unconscious, and Sherlock decides to talk to him anyway. Sherlock/John pre-slash.

Duvet (green) by Mazarin221b (G, 2,021 w. || Post-THoB, Mind Palace, Revelations, First Kiss) – Sherlock recalibrates and restructures his mind palace so it looks like 221b. What he chooses to put in John's room is a bit of a surprise, and a revelation.

Crisis Averted by Spartangal22 (T, 2,188 w., 1 Ch. || HLV Fic, Missing Scene After Confronting Mary, Canon Compliant, Sherlock Whump / Mary Shot Sherlock, Family / Friendship, Hospitalization, Sherlock POV, Holmes Brothers) – Lying in the hospital, Sherlock receives some surprising visitors, and manages to deal with two problems he's been having lately. A missing scene from HLV about a formal introduction that was never made and a visit that was never shown.

glimpses through a closing window by radialarch (T, 2,430 w., 1 Ch. || Hiatus / Post TRF, Vlogging, Pining Sherlock, Angst, BG John/Mary) – John starts a domestic vlog. Sherlock watches it on stolen phones, over flickering wi-fi, and aches.

It's a Dummy by Johnnlocked (Krullenbol2602) (T, 2,574 w., 3 Ch. || HLV-Remix, Major Character Injury, H/C, Love Confessions, Mary is Not Nice, 3G Moment) – What if Mary had taken the shot?

It's After That Hurts by jonnyluvssherlock (T, 2,791 w., 1 Ch. || City of Angels AU || Fantasy, Fallen Angel Sherlock, Soldier John, Friends to Lovers, Permanently Incomplete Fic) – Sherlock's an angel stuck as a guardian to danger addict John Watson. Everything is fine until he gets too involved. Now he has to make the choice, eternity alone or one life time with a man who may or may not love him.

All in a Day by chappysmom (K+, 2,920 w., 1 Ch. || Kidnapping, Sherlock POV,  Humour, Light Angst, BAMF John) – Oddly enough, it seemed like this time, Sherlock had been kidnapped for no other reason than to pressure John. In other words, this had nothing to do with him. Really, this on top of the blow to the head was enough to make him dizzy.

Measuring Damage With the Fujita Scale by teahigh (T, 3,548 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss / Time, Vacation / Holidays, Friends to Lovers, Bed-Sharing, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, Angsty Fluff, Scars, Awkward Talks) – John goes back into town, into the storm, and Sherlock realises he forgot to say, “I just want to be alone with you.”

Nineteen Seconds of Falling by EmmyAngua (T, 3,739 w., 1 Ch. || Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Falling in Love) – Sherlock spends exactly nineteen seconds zoned out after John asks him to be best man. He retreats to his mind palace in the desperate hope of figuring out what he wants, unfortunately for him his mind palace is full of people who keep trying to give him advice.

In the cherry blossom's shade by Eliane (M, 3,934 w., 1 Ch. || Post S3, First Time / Kiss, Sleeping Together, Pining / Obsessive Sherlock, Minor Char. Death) – This isn’t new. Sherlock has already done this – has gone through cities, and dingy hotels, and sleepless nights but it was different before. John wasn’t there before. They’re in this together.

Obsession, Appassionato by shinychimera, Yeomanrand (E, 4,249 w., 1 Ch. || Possessive Sherlock, First Time, Jealous Sherlock, Music / Sherlock’s Violin, Present Tense, Frottage) – John is late, and he hasn’t called, and Sherlock works himself into a state. Part 1 of Love and Ysaye

The Sum of His Parts by CommonNonsense (T, 4,311 w., 1 Ch. || Body Worship, Pining, First Time) – There are eleven major organ systems in the human body. Sherlock knows about all of them to some degree, but none fascinate him as much as the ones that make up John Watson.

What John Doesn't Know (Won't Hurt Him) by blueink3 (NR [T], 4,392 w., 1 Ch, || S3 Fix It, Pining Sherlock, Snippets of Life, Hurt/Comfort, Scars, Fluff and Angst, Five and One, Hopeful Ending, POV Sherlock) – Five people who see Sherlock's scars before John Watson. But Sherlock's secrets were never something he could keep from his blogger for long.

Stranded by BeautifulFiction (T, 5,798 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss, Communication / Relationship Discussion, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, BAMF John, Doctor John, Case Fic, Drinking, Huddling For Warmth, Friends to More) –  When stranded on a derelict barge at high tide, John and Sherlock reconsider their friendship.

My First, My Only, and My Forever by vintagelilacs (E, 6,220 w., 1 Ch. || Post-ASiB, Virgin Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock’s Bum, John’s Scar, Sherlock POV, Body Worship, Fingering, Bottomlock, Promise of Forever / Proposals, Misunderstanding, First Kiss/Time, Loss of Virginity, Virginity Kink, Seduction) – Sherlock narrowed his eyes. He was missing a vital piece of data, he was sure. John had been looking at him oddly ever since they left Buckingham Palace, and the ensuing incident with Irene Adler had only exacerbated his erratic behaviour. What was it? Why would he care that Sherlock was a virgin? There was nothing reminiscent of mockery or pity in his gaze. And then it hit him. John Watson was aroused.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca by mightypog (T, 6,400 w., 1 Ch. || Vacation, Love Confessions, Friends to Lovers, Canada, Post-TRF, Love Confessions, Angst With Happy Ending) – Sherlock is back and all seems forgiven, but something is missing between him and John. Their friendship initially appears intact, but Sherlock doesn't understand why John seems to be slipping away. Finally, in terror, he tries to reconnect with John by taking him to the one place that seems to inspire any emotional interest in John any more: the Canadian wilderness. While there, Sherlock faces his greatest fear.

Bridges by sussexbound (M, 6,602 w., 1 Ch || Post-TLD / S4 Fix It, Love Confessions, Mending Relationships, Moving Back In, Pining Sherlock, POV Sherlock, Past Abuse, Shaving) – The silence between them is deafening, interrupted only by the hum of the traffic outside, and the soft click-clunk of the plastic cups Rosie is playing with on the floor beside them. It is the first time they have been alone together, since Sherlock’s birthday. It’s only been two days, but it feels huge, important, like there is a precarious bridge stretched out before them both that they need to at least attempt to traverse.

A Friend Indeed by Sanru (K+, 8,190 w., 1 Ch. || Missing John, Friendship, Drama, Introspection, Possessive Sherlock, Worried Sherlock) – Something has gone terribly wrong with a supposedly simple case. John Watson is missing. While the search for him is proving to be fruitless, it has made Sherlock realize that having an emotional attachment to someone may have its disadvantages but he liked being able to call John his friend. Now if only he could find out what happened to him... 

On the Losing Side by missselene (E, 8,210 w., 1 Ch. || Anal / Oral, First Kiss / Time, Angst, Misunderstandings, Mild Dub Con / Drunk John) – After Mary's death, John moves back into Baker Street, but is still upset at the loss of his wife and child. Eventually, he and Sherlock stumble into a sort of relationship, but it's more physical than anything and they don't talk about it. They especially don't talk during sex. If they are going to have sex, Sherlock notices the signs hours beforehand, and he prepares carefully. The lights are off, they're under the covers, he prepares himself using lots of lube so he can make it feel as much like a woman as he can, and he doesn't let himself make any noise so that, if John wishes, he can pretend that he's still with Mary.

My Life for His by QuinnAnderson (E, 8,816 w., 1 Ch. || Guardian/Protector, Greek Mythology || Growing Up, Sex, Religious Themes, Suicide, Minor Character Death) – It began when Sherlock was eight, and he attempted to climb all the way up to the highest branch in the old willow tree in his back garden. He'd thought he was still small enough that it could support him, but the second he'd grabbed hold of it to pull himself up, the branch snapped, and down he went, plummeting a solid twenty metres. The odd thing was, he never actually hit the ground. 

The Five Stages of Mourning, Plus One by SunnyRea (T, 10,557 w., 1 Ch. || MCD, Pining / Grieving Sherlock, URT, Heavy Angst, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Drug Use, Graphic Death, Depression, Unhappy Ending) – Sherlock did not want this, did not want another stalemate with John in the middle, a gun in Jim's hand. This cannot have happened without a sign. There has to be something he missed anything which said today is the day I kill for real. 

White Blank Page by SarahCat1717 (M, 11,936 w., 7 Ch. || Post-TRF, Clever John, Reunion Fic, Pining Sherlock, Letters, Fantasies) – Post-fall, Sherlock is off eliminating Moriarty's crime web. He finds he misses John. He can't divulge that he still lives, but he placates his need to communicate with John and still feel a connection with him by sending him blank letters. But over time, this writing exercise lends itself to Sherlock exploring his feelings for his friend. What will happen when Sherlock returns to London and the man he has been "writing" to regularly for the past two years? NOT S3 compliant. Mary who? 

I Need You To See Me by Mssmithlove (E, 12,625 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, Amnesia, Soldier!John) – After going back to war, John is yet again invalided home, this time with a broken ankle and a chunk of his memory missing, unable to recall the last five years he's spent being Sherlock Holmes' partner and husband. Part 9 of Happiness Awaits

Kintsugi by distantstarlight (E, 14,772 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Regret / Remorse, Loneliness, Separation, Drug Use, Healing, Protective John, Sad Sherlock, Dev. Rel., Complicated Relationships, Love, Angst With Happy Ending, Sherlock is Called Freak, John’s Penance, Voyeurism, Doctor/Caretaker John, Guilty John, Detox, Fingering, Love Confessions, Cuddling, Slight Non-Con Turns Enthusiastic Consent, Virgin Sherlock) – Sherlock Holmes becomes estranged from the man he had once considered his best friend after John lets him down horribly in public. It seems that the world's only consulting detective will be on his own once again...or will he?

Wonderful, Etcetera. by Anonymous (T, 16,955 w., 3 Ch. || Wonderful Life AU || Alternate Timelines, Brotherhood, Homophobia, Suicidal Ideations, Mentions of Drug Use, Friendship, Different TRF, Sherlock’s Past, Victor Trevor is Past Boyfriend, Depression, Hallucination, Love Confessions, Christmas, First Kiss) – Sherlock thinks everyone would be better off if he had never existed, including and especially himself. When he finds himself in a world in which his wish has been granted, he begins to think perhaps even he could be wrong – but it takes an unlikely chaperone to make him not only observe, but understand.

A Life Well-Lived by Kate_Lear (E, 20,121 w., 1 Ch. || Original Male Character, Sherlock Woos John, Jealous Sherlock, Reluctant Bi-John, Past Abuse, Insecure John, Reassuring / Caring Sherlock, Protective Sherlock, Understanding Sherlock) – John got scared off men by an abusive past relationship. Sherlock has to try and woo him while not scaring him off with protective possessive rage.

Sonatina in G Minor by SilentAuror (E, 22,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post S3, Case Fic, POV Sherlock, Angst, UST, Sherlock’s Violin, Romance) – John has come back to Baker Street, but Sherlock doesn't understand the strange tension between them, even after he begins teaching John to play the violin at John's request.

Among the Secret Things by Kate_Lear (E, 26,073 w., 14 Ch. || Angst, Drama, Amnesia) – Sherlock would be the last person to describe himself as given to flights of fancy, but at the look on Lestrade’s face he could swear that something inside him curls up and dies. Part 1 of Among the Secret Things

The Kissing Disease by cottonballz_of_death (E, 30,856 w., 15 Ch. || Sick Fic, Angst with Happy Ending, Case Fic, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Jealous Sherlock, Body Image Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional H/C, POV Sherlock, Oral / Anal, Thong, Frottage) – John brings home a boyfriend, shocking Sherlock, who long ago gave up hope that his straight flatmate would ever take a romantic interest in him. In a bid to reconnect with John, he tries to infect himself with a "harmless" virus. Neither of them is prepared for the emotional fallout that results.

A Promise Made to Be Broken by PlantsAreNeat (E, 37,018 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Pining, Slow Burn, RST, Eventual Relationship, Primarily POV Sherlock) – A young John makes an ‘if we’re still single at 40, we’ll get together’ pledge to a woman who ends up all wrong for him. She keeps reminding him of the promise, and won’t let go of it. John asks Sherlock to pose as his boyfriend at a family wedding, so as to dash her hopes permanently. Sherlock, who has at last acknowledged his feelings for John, reluctantly agrees despite knowing how painful it will be to ‘have’ John, but not keep him.

Set in Stone by SilentAuror (E, 39,309 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Wedding, Therapy, Fluff and Angst) – Sherlock and John are back from Ravine Valley and planning their wedding. However, as they move past the trial of the human traffickers, Sherlock can't help but wonder if he's imagining that John is becoming a little distant. Surely he isn't getting cold feet about the wedding... Part 2 of The Ravine Valley series

In the Still of the Night by SilentAuror (E, 42,234 w., 1 Ch. || S4 Fix It / Post-S4, Sherlock POV, Angst, Drama, Romance, Virgin Sherlock, Awkwardness, Misunderstandings / Miscommunications, Case Fic, Travelling, Pining) – As locals on the Northeastern coast begin to report UFO sightings, life at Baker Street becomes significantly awkward as John brings up his desire for more than friendship and Sherlock refuses him. They embark on the investigation from the confines of the tiny cottage Mycroft has rented for them, attempting to navigate both the clues of the case as well as their own inability to communicate...

Albion and the Woodsman by Glenmore (NR [E], 54,437 w., 50 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post S3, Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst, Family, Drug Use, Depression, Sherlock POV, Light Humour, Reconnecting, Declarations of Love) – Sherlock and John are devastated after Mary Morstan makes her final moves. Sherlock relapses at the crack house, John walks around the world … and a lot happens in between. Parentlock, in the good way.

Being John Watson-ish by elwinglyre (E, 69,902 w., 17 Ch. || Bodysnatcher AU || Author John, Cranky Sherlock, Angst, Sexual Tension, First Kiss / Time, Falling in Love, BAMF John, Past Soldier John, Feelings, Inside Someone’s Brain, Shy Sherlock, Sherlock Loves John, POV Sherlock, Switchlock, Slow Burn, Internal Dialogue, Mental Turmoil) – When consulting detective Sherlock Holmes steps on one toe too many at a crime scene, he's consigned to a desk job in an archaic office on the seventh-and-a-half floor of the New Scotland Yard. It’s in this bleak office that Sherlock discovers a portal into the mind of renowned author John Watson. Grander than his mind palace, this new wonderland affords Sherlock new vistas of experimentation. To learn more about the mystery behind the portal, Sherlock seeks out and befriends Watson. But then it all goes wrong when others find the secret portal door—including the man whose brain he visits.

Uphill by scullyseviltwin (E, 84,945 w., 18 Ch. || Olympics AU || Sherlock POV, Skier!Sherlock / Medic!John, Rivalry, 2014 Olympics, Happy Ending) – Sherlock Holmes is striving for gold in this, his fourth and final Olympics as a downhill Alpine racer.

Kintsukuroi by sussexbound (E, 91,823 w., 20 Ch. || S4 Compliant / Post-TLD, Grief / Mourning, PTSD, Internalized Homophobia, Therapy, Past Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Anxiety, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, Cuddling, Suicidal Ideation, Masturbation, Minor Character Death, Sexting, Frottage, Inexperienced Sherlock, Rimming / Anal / BJ’s, Emotional Turmoil, Finding Each Other) – “I love you.” Sherlock sees the words hit John with almost physical force. He reels back a little, jaw twitching and eyes filling. “I love you,” he repeats, a little softer, a little more gentle, as earnest as he possibly can. Because they’ve been teetering on the brink of this thing for years, and it had become painfully obvious over the last few months that they were at a tipping point. This had to happen. Now it has. Now they can see where they end up. The tears in John’s eyes spill over, and he wipes at them angrily. “Do you even know what that means?”  

The Baker Street Nativity by SwissMiss (E, 99,662 w., 23 Ch. || Nativity! AU || Teacher Sherlock / TA John, Pining, Sherlock POV, UST, Angst, Christmas, Music/Song Fic, Anal / BJ’s, First Kiss / Time) –Fusion between Sherlock (BBC) and Nativity! (2009 movie starring Martin Freeman). Sherlock is a primary school teacher and John is assigned to be his classroom assistant. Together, they are charged with putting on the school's Nativity play. What could possibly go wrong? Part 1 of The Baker Street Nativity Verse

The Wedding Garments by cwb (E, 105,390 w., 36 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Alternate Future AU || Alternate First Meeting, Dating / Arranged Marriages, Romance, First Kiss/Time, Heavy Petting, Cuddles, POV Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn / Falling in Love / Dev. Rel., Nervous/Anxious Sherlock, Jealous/Cranky Sherlock, Hiking, Vacation Homes / Honeymoon, Sherlock’s Family, Horny John/Sherlock, Patient John, Massages, Hand Jobs, Assassination Plots, Oral Sex, Case Fic, Emotional Love Making, Bath Time Fun) – This is the story of a young consulting detective who wants nothing to do with marriage and an army doctor who wants to find true love. It's 2020 post-Brexit England and the British government is encouraging arranged marriages. Candidates meet through state-run agencies and date in hopes of finding love (and tax benefits). Sherlock doesn't need or want a spouse, at least not until John Watson shows up. Hesitant to give in to his more carnal urges because of the way they derail his mind, how will Sherlock progress toward the more intimate aspects of a relationship? The answer lies in a very special wedding gift.

Breakable by MissDavis (E, 117,627 w., 34 Ch. || Established Relationship, Major Character Injury, Fluff/Angst, Depression, Paralysis/Disabilities, Hurt/Comfort, POV Sherlock, Mental Health Issues, Drug Use, Happy-ish Ending) – After John is seriously injured, Sherlock struggles to figure out how to help him, keep himself sane, and maybe, just maybe, get their life back to the way it's supposed to be. Part 1 of Breakable Not Broken

[kingdoms-and-empires]

It would seem like the Argent blessed noble blood should have proliferated more or were there a lot of only single child royal families. Like Remiel and Uriel were only children so I wonder why Uriel and Adelina had so many. Also will our siblings marry out or marry in partners?

Great questions!!

REALISTICALLY

There should be more. Siblings of the ruler shouldve married or at least had kiddos right?

Well, there are!

But those families no longer possess the ability to actually activate the blessed armor because the ability only lasts 3 generations.

Same with the whole white hair and eyes thing!

The main branch, that is the main ruling family, have to keep a constant connection to the blessed armor so they dont lose their white hair and eyes, or else itll be lost. ONLY family members with white hair or eyes can claim the Silver Throne!

But I dont talk much about this ingame because alot of it could overwhelm a reader, especially how the game is currently presented with all the walls of text it currently is. SO this will be a future wiki article and discussion that Master Feren will teach to us in the future!!!

Now for the actual answer

In terms of writing, i already have an incredibly high amount of characters. And writers usually want a clean and organized world because its easier to write about. But imagine a writer trying to work with a family tree and system like that of the Capet or Habsburg dynasty lines? Then add in all the craziness of the branch families?? ITS INSANE

Hence my lil bit of laziness in this regard lololol

Hope this answered your questions!!!

Gonna tag this ideabucket so i remember to do the article at some point lmao

[sagau-my-beloved]

I find it absolutely hilarious that the way creator described the relationship between her an a certain bard as nothing more than “friends with benefits” which to mostly everyone else just thinks “oh just friends” but the people the question the “with benefits” part cause they don’t know what that means, until diluc hears the ramblings of a certain drunk bard talking about how her grace hasn’t let him visit her chambers in a while and fears she might not love him anymore, confuses diluc cause y’all are friends?? Right?? Only for venti to slip and say “yeah her grace says that, but honestly we’re a lot closer, we practically married almost. She says I’m a good partner in bed, wish she let me visit her soon, I miss her” causes diluc to click two and two together that friends with benefits = fucking each other. Of course the other anolytes hear from kaeya once he gets this juicy info from his brother, which of course cause Zongli and ei to barge in her grace throne room complaining it’s unfair venti the weakest god gets to be “friends with benefits” with her grace. Anyway now a new term has emerged because of her grace.

Really the whole 'with benefits' part would probably just be assumed as the whole creator/follower thing, like friends with the inclusion of a heavy status difference

Then imagine that term starts circulating for those types of relationships at first— like boss and employee who also happened to maybe catch a meal on the weekends or something and could be considered casual friends

I was trying very hard to think of an in game example of this dynamic, but the only one that comes to mind is Thoma and the Kamisatos—

But anyway, poor Diluc, always the one having to deal with Venti's shenanigans 😔, cursed with so much knowledge he neither asked for nor wanted

Realistically he would probably just stand there and question both his and your life choices, yours because you have actively chosen to be intimate with this drunk nuisance of a troublemaker of your own free will, out of all the other people in the entire nation, and his because he has to hear about it

As soon as the other Archons catch wind of you showing favoritism all bets are off, they'll practically beg to know what they've done wrong, how they can atone for not doing whatever he happened to do in order to become your favorite

It's a messy situation tbh, and Venti clinging to you while whining about how you haven't initiated anything in weeks, how if he did something wrong last time he's more than happy to make up for it if you just gave him the chance, how all these other annoying people are getting in the way and you two should have just stayed together in your world where he could be the only one that pleases you, certainly isn't helping

[kellyvela]

GRRM ABOUT DRAGONS

A compilation.

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A Dance With Dragons spends quite a lot of time in Essos, which is kind of the analog to Asia and the Middle East in the world the story takes place in, as opposed to Westeros, which seems to owe a lot to Western Europe. When I was reading about Dany, who has become a light-skinned, foreign ruler of an exotic land, it reminded me of The Man Who Would Be King, the Sean Connery and Michael Caine movie that is based on a Rudyard Kipling story. Do you think about these parallels — colonialism, the “white man’s burden” — when you’re writing?

I’ve said many times I don’t like thinly disguised allegory, but certain scenes do resonate over time. Other people have made the argument, which is more more contemporary, that it might have resonances with our current misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. I’m aware of the parallels, but I’m not trying to slap a coat of paint on the Iraq War and call it fantasy.

When civilizations clash in your books, instead of Guns, Germs, and Steel, maybe it’s more like Dragons, Magic, and Steel (and also Germs).

There is magic in my universe, but it’s pretty low magic compared to other fantasies.

Dragons are the nuclear deterrent, and only Dany has them, which in some ways makes her the most powerful person in the world. But is that sufficient? These are the kind of issues I’m trying to explore. The United States right now has the ability to destroy the world with our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn’t mean we can achieve specific geopolitical goals.

Power is more subtle than that. You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn’t give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.

—GRRM - Vulture - 2011

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balinares

I'd agree... except DRACO. Draco Draco Draco. Nicest dragon ever. If the Cocteau ever does a dragon event, I sure hope Dragonheart will be on the list, because intelligent, friendly dragons need more recognition. Doesn't hurt when they're voiced by Sean Connery, either. (...)

volk_nn

Draco is the most friendly and charming dragon of media culture, IMHO =)

grrm

Yes, but dragons are not meant to be friendly or charming.

—Coolest Dragons Ever" (Feb. 10th, 2014)

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“I mean battles and wars interest me too - and medieval feasts interest me. And you know I’m creating a whole world here and every facet of it. As I get to it I try to approach it as realistically as I can, but ultimately as I said before, it’s it’s the human heart in conflict with itself. It’s what makes Cersei Lannister the way she is, and is she capable of learning and changing? What drives Dany? With Dany I’m particularly looking at the… what effect great power has upon a person. She’s the mother of dragons, and she controls what is in effect the only three nuclear weapons in the entire world that I’ve created. What does it do to you when you control the only three nuclear weapons in the world and you can destroy entire cities or cultures if you choose to? Should you choose to, should you not choose to? These are the issues that fascinate me. I don’t necessarily claim to have answers to these. I think exploring the questions is far more interesting than just me giving an answer and saying to the reader, here’s the answer, here’s the truth. Now think about it for yourself, look at the dilemmas, look at the contradictions, look at the problems, and the unintended consequences. That’s what fascinates me.”

—“Interview exclusive de George R R Martin, l'auteur de Game Of Thrones” de -Le Mouv’- 2014 - [Transcription]

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How do you analyze this question of power? I think I was struck by the reading of the Lord of the Rings. I find that Tolkien is a little simplistic on the subject: at the end of the book, Aragorn becomes king, and we learn that he ruled in a wise and just way for a century, for he was a good man. But I read history books, I'm contemporary news, and I'm convinced that being a good man is not enough to make you a great leader. Because governing is a delicate exercise that makes you constantly make difficult decisions, solve problems where there is no good solution, that would solve everything by magic. Those are profound questions for the human race. And then there is the war, another subject that is close to my heart, I was a conscientious objector at the time of the Vietnam War, and this question still concerns me. I look at what is happening in the Middle East, with the Islamic State, and I can not help wondering: who are these monsters, these modern orcs? Who can be sympathetic to them? And yet, fighters say thousands to join them. More seriously, what motivates them? And how should we fight them? If I were Daenerys Targaryen. I could ride on my dragons and eliminate them in the flames. But is death the only solution we have to offer? How react to another who is so radically alien to us? These questions are very difficult - and I do not pretend to have the answers. Because there is no simple answer to these questions. —Lire Magazine - April 2015

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There is one remarkable phrase in this story. The plot is about the interstellar Grand Inquisitor from the Catholic Church, which has spread to many planets. And there is the Inquisition, which hunts heretics. And there is such a phrase: “This episode was illustrated by a magnificent picture. Judas in a dark cave, with burning eyes, waves a white-hot scourge, not letting a huge golden-green dragon approach him. He has a basket under his arm, the lid is slightly moved, the heads of three dragons that have just hatched from eggs stick out of it. You've been into dragons from the very beginning! GRRM: Dragons are cool! (burst of laughter) - What makes dragons cool? GRRM: I don't know... what makes dragons cool? When I was little, I had not only aliens, but also plastic dinosaurs. And dinosaurs are cool. (audience laughter) Dragons are fire-breathing dinosaurs with wings, which just adds to the level of coolness. (audience laughter) And what's interesting is that different cultures around the world have their own legends about dragons. Of course, Chinese dragons are fundamentally different from Western dragons, but nevertheless, there are similarities between them. And so I keep wondering: what if dragons evolved from dinosaurs? Perhaps our ancestors stumbled upon the bones of dinosaurs in the fields and thought that they must have been dragons. And they came up with all these legends. - Your colleague, G. K. Chesterton, said: "The stories about dragons are more than true: not only because they tell us that dragons exist, but also because they tell us that dragons can be defeated." This, too, is reminiscent of the synopsis of A Song of Ice and Fire. GRRM: Yeah, I'm not sure Dany would agree that dragons can be defeated. (laughter in the hall). We will find out. - I'm not even going to try to scratch out of you details about the plot of future books! But in your world, dragons are some kind of superweapon. Nuclear bombs of Westeros. GRRM: It is, yes. Nuclear weapon. This book that you are holding now is this big one, “The World of Ice and Fire” - this is the history of the entire world of Westeros, written by me together with Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson - legends, and all about the Targaryen kings. There are excellent illustrations. Among other things, it talks about dragons in the days when the Targaryens had dragons. They held them for 150 years, and the great war, A Dance with Dragons, was a civil war where dragons fought against each other. There is a lot about the power of dragons and how hard it is to kill them. But on the other hand, many dragons died then, because they are still not invincible and not immortal. They are difficult to kill, but possible. And, of course, they can kill each other. So it's all there. Does this anticipate major events in the cycle... we'll have to wait and see. —George R.R. Martin in Hamburg: "Dragons are cool!" - 2015 - [OG Source in Russian] - [Secondary Source in Russian]

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[Unclear question]

GRRM: Oh boy, who would they be? Um, I can think of some analogs to Mr. Tr*mp, but you know, it would must be a villain character, but my villains are actually smarter than him. You know, just this comment he made last week or so about, oh, it would be good. “You know, we shouldn't have to worry about North Korea having atomic weapons. We should give atomic weapons to other people in the neighborhood and like, you know, Japan and South Korea, and then they can deal with it.” That's yeah. Clear proliferation. That's great. That would be equivalent for people in, you know, my world saying, you know, everybody should have dragons, why don’t every House in westeros had dragons, that would really help. So, uh, there we're.

—BALTICON 2016

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GRRM: “People read fantasy to see the colours again,” he says. “We live our lives and I think there’s something in us that yearns for something more, more intense experiences. There are men and women out there who live their lives seeking those intense experiences, who go to the bottom of the sea and climb the highest mountains or get shot into space. Only a few people are privileged to live those experiences but I think all of us want to, somewhere in our heart of hearts we don’t want to live the lives of quiet desperation Thoreau spoke about, and fantasy allows us to do those things. Fantasy takes us to amazing places and shows us wonders, and that fulfils a need in the human heart.”

The Guardian: And the dragons?

GRRM: “Oh sure, dragons are cool too,” he chuckles. “But maybe not on our doorstep”.

—The Guardian - November 2018

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Esquire: How will Fire & Blood deepen our understanding of Daenerys and her dragons?

GRRM: This is a book that Daenerys might actually benefit from reading, but she has no access to Archermaester Gyldayn’s crumbling manuscripts. So she’s operating on her own there. Maybe if she understood a few things more about dragons and her own history in Essos, things would have gone a little differently.

—Esquire - November 2018

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Sitting down with news.com.au in New York City, Martin dropped dark hints to the suffering awaiting the war-torn world of Westeros as the battle for the Iron Throne reaches its peak.

“I have tried to make it explicit in the novels that the dragons are destructive forces, and Dany (Daenerys Targaryen) has found that out as she tried to rule the city of Meereen and be queen there.

‘THE POWER TO DESTROY’

“She has the power to destroy, she can wipe out entire cities, and we certainly see that in ‘Fire and Blood,’ we see the dragons wiping out entire armies, wiping out towns and cities, destroying them, but that doesn’t necessarily enable you to rule — it just enables you to destroy.”

—GRRM - Fox News Channel - November 2018

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John Howe: Can I ask you why Dany is a princess and not a prince?

GRRM: I made this choice a long time ago, I think I wanted to play a little with the genres and reversed things a little, and of course in my head the expression "mother of dragons" is much better than "father of dragons". There is also this link with the woman who gives life, who transmits lives, carrying a gigantic power of death, of fire, of destruction. There are very powerful metaphors in there.

—Dragons! (2/4) Dragons d'Occident, la figure du mal [2018]

Video (13:10 - French audio and subtitles but you can hear GRRM talking in English in the back)

Reddit translation (Last quote)

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They [the dragons] represent power, of course, in the books. You know, I don't believe any more than JRRT did in fantasy novels as allegory, but there are certain things you can look at. The dragons can win wars for you, that's established in the histories, but they can't necessarily produce peace or prosperity or help you rule a nation, you know, Daenerys Targaryen is finding it out in Mereen, when she, you know, she defeats the cities of Slavers Bay with her three dragons, but then in trying to rule as Queen, she can destroy Meereen any time she wants by just unleashing the dragons, could kill a lot of people, you know, wipe out the most of the population of the city, reduced the entire city to a fiery inferno, but that doesn't help her to come up with good laws, or to establish peace between the original inhabitants, and the the freedmen, and people that she's brought in, so ruling is more than just the power to destroy and that's a lesson that she's definitely learning.

—Guerra dos Tronos. A entrevista de George R.R. Martin à RTP - 2019

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The Targaryens are also an ancient house but they're not an ancient Westerosi house. They knew that destruction was coming to Valyria and went far away from the capital city and the settled on the volcanic island of Dragonstone. They were dragon lords in Valyria. Now dragons are really formidable and they can turn the tide of a battle. It flies, it's difficult to hit, it breathes fire, against which most knights and men at arms have little or no protection. So if you have dragons, that's were the nuclear option analogy comes in. You're hard to mess around with. So the dragons and fear of dragons was one of the things that made the Targaryens very secure in their power.

—Before the Dance: An Illustrated History with George R.R. Martin | House of the Dragon (HBO) - August - 2022

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Would you rather have a dragon or a direwolf?

GRRM: Well, that's an interesting question too. The dragon has certain advantages, number one it is you can fly, and I would love to be able to fly. As a kid, you know, I read superhero comics, I didn't want to be Batman, swinging on a rope, but I wanted to be Superman and flying through the skies and all of that stuff. Flying is a primal dream, so yeah, flying on a dragon and being able to burn the hell out of my enemies, that's useful too. On the other hand, the direwolves are friendlier than the dragons. And you know, they're like big shaggy dogs and there was probably more of a close and affectionate bond between them. And I would like to have a direwolf right now at my house in Santa Fe, we moved into a new house a while ago, it's beautiful house, and it has a little kind of waterfall in the back and a well, it has a couple pools, beautiful pools, and I stocked those pools with Koi, because I thought that would be cool, and the raccoons ate all of my Koi, but if I had a direwolf, those raccoons would stayed hell away. (...)

Would you rather freeze to death beyond the Wall or burn alive in dragonfire?

GRRM: That's another tough one. Can I just live forever? I can't die the way Tyrion wanted to die, that's a pity. I can't say how he wanted to die, but it's in the books. Read the books. He's asked that question by Shagga son of Dolf. I think freezing. Fire is supposed to be a really, really painful way to die. I've always heard. (...)

Do you think it's possible to have a dragon and live a benevolent life? Like, would you inherently get pulled into using that power?

GRRM: Well, that's an interesting question too. And it's a question if I may verge away from medieval history and metaphor to the current reality we live in, you know, it's often been said that the dragons are the nuclear weapons of my imaginary world. They are the most devastating weapon, and they cause great destruction, massive loss of life; but they're not necessarily, you know, I mean, this is part of Dany's storyline and the original novels. I mean, Dany . . . Dany has three dragons, and she can destroy these cities, like Meereen where she finds herself queen, but it doesn't mean she can necessarily rule them easily without destroying them, so, when do you do that? And I grew up, I'm a baby boomer born in 1948, and growing up in the fifties there was always the specter of nuclear war. I mean I lived through the Cuban missile crisis, and Khrushchev and, you know, saber rattling and, you know, all of the books about the nuclear holocaust, about Armageddon and, you know, about what was gonna happen, we were worried about that. Actually there's nuclear weapons that have only been used twice in all of History, and they've been used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Afterwards, there was a long period where only America had nuclear weapons; nobody else in the world had them, and there were people, believe it or not, like you're a science fiction fan, you know who Robert A. Heinlein was? [Yep] Heinlein, the dean of science fiction, fascinating guy, because his politics a lot of people think of him as conservative because of where he got in end of his life, but earlier when he was a young man, he was sort of a socialist, he ran there for office in California on Upton Sinclair's platform, and he actually advocated in letters that you can find, that at the end of World War II, when only America had the atomic bomb, he said America should give the atomic bomb to the newly formed United Nations, and it should be prohibited to all other countries, so we would have a world government and only the United Nations would be able to enforcing, and can you imagine if that had actually been done, what a very, very different world that we would live in. Maybe not one that we would like, but there's there. And thereafter, there was always these concerns about, well, we can win any of these wars, you know, why did . . . . I mean, MacArthur and some other people wanted to use the atomic bomb in Korea, in the Korean war, and, you know, when China invaded, well, why are we letting them do that? We could win the war. Of course, by then the Russians, I think, had it too. Or Barry Goldwater in 1964 election, why are we fighting this war in Vietnam? Let's just drop a nuke on Hanoi, or at least that was the charge. But we never did it, we always refrained, we were the dragon riders who would not use our dragons, although we would kind of use them to intimidate them, except now more and more countries have that. We've tried a nuclear non-proliferation, but, you know, Britain got them, Soviet Union got them, Britain got them, France got them, then it went to India and Pakistan and North Korea, for God's sakes, and Iran is trying to get them, and there's always the rumors that Israel has them. As more and more countries get this, I think the danger becomes greater and greater, someday someone is gonna use them, and right now the danger is very high! I mean, you can turn on the news every day: Is Putin losing the war in Ukraine? Is he gonna resort to nukes? And then the question becomes, what if he does? If Putin resorts to nukes, does America unleash its dragons? Or do we not? And let him get away from it. These are profound questions, we could debate this for hours with a panel of political scientists and things like that, and it's not an easy answer to.

—A Conversation with George R R Martin | A Celebration of the Targaryen Dynasty [October 24th, 2022]

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There are also dragons, who confer monumental power to those who dominate them. Did you incorporate them for the show, or to emphasize something broader? GRRM: I have never consciously inserted any contemporary political allegory into my works. However, some have compared dragons to nuclear weapons, and they may be holding something. I have tried to make the over-power of the dragons very explicit in the novels, they represent a destructive force, and Daenerys realized this when she ascended the throne of Meereen. Thanks to the dragons, she has the power to wipe a city off the map, to eradicate whole armies. That does not mean that this weapon allows you to reign afterwards. Here, there is a metaphor that, I believe, means the following: to reign and to destroy are two very different things. —Society Magazine Interview [https://www2.lekiosk.com/fr/publication/society/21423629█ 201812 Society Magazine.pdf]

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[natalieironside]

"Fantasy is inherently ahistorical and therefore it's bad writing to depict a society that has problems" is a laughable position, but it's equally if not more laughable to act like Game of Thrones should or possibly can be taken as a realistic depiction of Medieval life

I've seen ppl on Twitter swear up and down that the reason Game of Thrones is Like That(tm) is because "it's based on the Anarchy," and like.... if that's even true, & I don't think it is, then they did a bad job b/c that's not what the Anarchy was like