Tumgik
#Anti team black stans
2rats1gogh · 2 days
Note
“Helaena is literally married to Aegon?”
Apparently Jace asks Rhaenyra to dissolve Helaegon’s marriage so he can marry her.
I just don’t get it, who is this for exactly???
But what can Rhaenyra do? I don’t think she has any real power over Helaena and Aegon’s marriage. Even if she orders them to have a divorce, they won’t do it.
And overall, I don’t really believe this theory tbh. Like, Jace never seemed to be actually interested in Helaena. The only time they interacted was during the dinner scene when he invited her for a dance, but that was only to piss off Aegon, not because he actually liked her.
I would make sense for Helaena and Jace to be married, since it’s one of the very few ways a team black and a team green kid can marry each other (the only other way would be for Jaehaera to marry one of Rhaenyra’s sons) but I just don’t think they’re actually going to do it. The creators of HotD are known for making shit up that wasn’t in canon, but I don’t think they’ll do something THAT different. They have already discussed the possibility of Jace and Helaena marrying in previous episodes, so I don’t think they will bring it up ever again.
And yeah, I don’t think the dissolution of a marriage or a divorce was ever an actual thing in Westeros, and even if it was, it would’ve been very rare and done under very specific circumstances, like maybe a marriage would be proclaimed illegal if one of the two people is already married to someone who is still alive. But Helaena and Aegon’s marriage is entirely legal. Incest wasn’t a problem for Targaryens, so there is nothing Jace or Rhaenyra can say to separate them.
22 notes · View notes
mhsdatgo · 5 months
Text
Ok, so let me get this straight. My son's bully cuts out his eye after him and three other kids jumped on him ARMED, next thing I know there's an eyeball in a tray and said son is disassociating and wincing in pain while getting stitched up, and the problem is that he called obvious bastards bastards? And I'm supposed to like... Shut up when my abusive husband basically spits on me and my plead for justice? And I'm evil because I rightfully lashed out? And... I'M the one that needs to apologize?
Trust me, Alicent is stronger than me. If I was in Alicent's place, even she would be straight up horrified by the things I'd do if my son's eye was in a tray.
941 notes · View notes
rc1207 · 10 months
Text
I have seen quite often that many people consider young Alicent to be too sensitive and just an envious/jealous girl. Well...
Daemon almost killed Alicent's brother at the tourney, (he was much younger than him). Gwayne was so badly wounded that even the maester had to personally visit Otto and warn him that his son will live.
Tumblr media
Otto and Daemon's relationship has always been tense. Daemon allows himself to insult the memory of Otto's dead wife, in front of EVERYONE at the council.. And I remind you, mother's death is the same trauma for Alicent as for everyone's beloved Rhaenyra whom everyone loves to justify her behavior with the death of her mother. But no one talks about Alicent, even tho she also lost her mother. Alicent loved her very much and she still misses her, praying every day at the sept. Do you think she doesn't know what kind of relationship her father has with Daemon? She knows what a terrible person Daemon is, what frightening violence he is capable of, but she is silent and smiles because he is a prince, he is the brother of the king, and uncle of her best friend. She always has to be silent, polite and patient, just like her father.
Tumblr media
Imagine what Alicent felt when she found out that Rhaenyra had slept with a man like Daemon? Betrayal. No, it's not just envy that her "friend" has privileges, it'sdisappointment. To make matters worse, Rhaenyra lied to Alicent, she SWEARS BY HER MOTHER'S GRAVE AND DEATH that she IS TELLING THE TRUTH. Mother. Little Alicent values her words, she values the memory of her mother, she is still grieving, and she believes Rhaenyra.
Tumblr media
She even refuses to believe her own father, the closest and dearest person in her life. And for what? Eventually she becomes the reason why her father is kicked out of the Red Keep in disgrace, depriving the status of the king's right hand. She defended Rhaenyra's honor, she justified her, and was left absolutely alone again. No mother, no father.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
She feels the bitterness and pain of loneliness in the court, and then this feeling doubles because what she did turns out to be a huge mistake. Her best friend is a liar. From Alicent's perspective, her best friend hooked up with a man who had been at enmity with her father all her life, almost killed her brother, and after Rhaenyra smiles at her as if nothing had happened, and shamelessly scatters words, the consequence of which is the departure of her father.
Tumblr media
But yeah, for some stupid reason of course "she's just jealous girl" and nothing more.
2K notes · View notes
Text
I don’t understand the fandoms love for Daemon, by all rights he should be as hated as Joffrey was. Not only did he do almost everything Joffrey did, he also did worse. Even Tywin wouldn’t hold a candle to his cruelty. I understand liking a villainous character, I do too with Cersei and Tywin, but I’ve never went out of my way to whitewash their characters. I love them because they are villainous and practically irredeemable, if team black stans liked Daemon for his villainous actions before and during the Dance of Dragons I wouldn’t have any problems with it. But the fact that they go out of their way to defend him killing Rhea Royce because “he was forced into a marriage he didn’t like!!!!” As if she wasn’t too. And the fact that they defend him sending Blood and Cheese to psychologically torture Haelena and kill Jaehaerys due to “a son for a son it’s only right” when they despise Alicents moment of madness when her son was denied justice, makes me want to hurl.
It’s alright to like villainous characters, it doesn’t make you a bad person if you like them. But you know what makes you a moronic person? Whitewashing everything that makes a character compelling because you want to like them without seeming like a ‘bad person’. Your opinion on a character does not determine your own morality, it doesn’t make you better or worse than someone who hates them. But what it does, when you erase their entire identity as a rouge to make them more palatable to you, is make you seem moronic, stupid, and lacking any critical thinking and reading comprehension skills.
Rhaenyra is a compelling character because she is entitled and spoiled and lacks any political experience, she shows how badly Viserys fucked up when he tried to compensate for his guilt of murdering Aemma. Alicent is a compelling character because she is a mother who is trying her best to protect her children from the reality that if Daemon took the throne for Rhaenyra, he would kill all of them because they are a threat. She is even more of a compelling character in the books because of her ambition and cunning and want for her family to rise far above the ‘station’ of being a noble house in the Reach (as if house Hightower aren’t the oldest house in Westeros who could trace their lineage back to both the Garth Greenhand the high king of the first men and the Andal Kings that came afterwards). Daemon, for all that I dislike him as a character, is compelling for his ruthlessness and shortsightedness in his pursuit of the throne. He didn’t raise an army for Viserys because he thought he was a competent leader, he did it because it raised his own standing within Westeros, he groomed Rhaenyra not because he loved her, but because having him in her good graces means that he stood a better chance of being king after she was named heir. His ruthlessness is compelling. Taking it away to make him into a ‘malewife’ or a ‘loving father’ or a man who is lacking any ambition beyond wanting a valyrian wife is taking away his agency. It makes him seem like a Gary Sue who only wants the throne because his brother said Rhaenyra was heir. It makes it so that he is so completely white bread like that not even I, someone who loved the more morally bankrupt characters in ASOIAF can find him agreeable in any way shape or form.
Daemon is a fundamentally morally bankrupt character and he should stay that way. If you like him you should acknowledge and accept that he is one of the ‘bad guys’. Just as Cersei fans acknowledge and accept that she is fundamentally a morally bankrupt person who is selfish to the extreme. We like morally black characters because they are morally black. To make excuses for their actions is to take away their agency which makes them unlikable and very hate-able.
Daemons actions aren’t justifiable, blood and cheese would never be justified. A son for a son is akin to the visceral disgust the fandom had to Alicent when she asked for Lucerys’ eye, yet I bet when season two comes out and Blood and Cheese happens we’d see Daemon fans applauding and trying to justify it as ‘not that bad’ and ‘team green deserved it because of Aemond’s actions’ when little Jaehaerys, a boy of 6, was as far removed from the incident as can be. It would be akin to Team Green saying that due to Jaehaerys’ death, Aegon III or Viserys II deserved to have their head cut off in front of Rhaenyra.
Let morally bankrupt characters be morally bankrupt. You aren’t morally bankrupt because you like said character, it’s a fictional story loosely based on Empress Matilda. It’s not that deep. Like the characters you like without trying to justify their actions. They might be monstrous but you aren’t because you like them. It’s not a measure of your own character because you like said character. But it is a measure of your intelligence when you try to change said character’s entire personality to make it so that they are more digestible to you and everyone else.
292 notes · View notes
thesunfyre4446 · 1 month
Text
wait apparently people are saying that alicent and aemond and criston should've been punished after driftmark.
and i can understand why the antis think that alicent should be punished - anyone who dares to attack their qween (even if she suggested to have their freshly maimed child tortured) deserves death & hellfire , but aemond???? AEMOND??????? he claimed a dragon and got attacked. and criston was literally guarding alicent's chambers minding his own business.
if anyone deserve to get punished it's jace for bringing a FUCKING knife to the fight & trying to attack his uncle with a KNIFE because he insulted him. how is it ok to try and stab a person for insulting you?????? (telling the truth lol) and luke for taking someone's eye out.
232 notes · View notes
maryonaccross · 10 months
Text
Because Alicent asked Viserys to let Rhaenyra chose her own husband and let her have a choice after everything she endured and after Rhaenyra turned down all her attempts to rekindle their friendship…
And people say she was jealous and spiteful towards her. She literally pushed Viserys to give her the freedom no woman had at the time.
1K notes · View notes
Text
Nah but the thing that pisses me off about Rhaenyra is that i would find her her frustratingly compelling if she wasnt framed as something she isnt .She is a feminist but she doesnt do anything for women and she uses racist and classist language. She is the perfect mother but she puts her kids in danger by having them and by making all the wrong kind of choices.She is going to be a great queen but she cant even bother to do rule when she has the possibility .She is a great friend towards Laenor and Alicent but at the end of the day shes dimissive of both.And that bothers me because this should be a show full of catastrophically tragic girlfailures (gender neutral) and most of them are morally gray ,some have a lighter shade of grey others have a darker shade of grey but the thing remains.And the fact that for making her look good they had to sacrifice the Greens pisses me off to no end.
@thesunfyre4446 your post caused a lot of feels in me and i thank you for this.
224 notes · View notes
crimsonbastard · 21 days
Text
The way people use Aemma Arryn's death to justify the hate Alicent gets needs to studied.
Aemma Arryn was used as a broodmare since a young age, married to a man older than her. She was put through multiple pregnancies, miscarriages and stillbirths against her will and when time came, she didn't even get the dignity to die in her own terms. She was gutted like a pig as she got held down, as she begged Viserys to stop. All because Viserys wanted a Son.
Alicent also marries a man who's far more older, old enough to be her father, the man in question being her childhood companion's father, someone who watched her grow up alongside his daughter. She too goes through multiple pregnancies; anyone of them could've been her last, anyone of them could've resulted in her meeting the same end as Aemma. But she doesn't, she in fact bears Viserys THREE healthy sons. Viserys gets THREE of what he killed his first wife for and he neglects them.
So what's the difference between Aemma and Alicent you might ask? Well according to some TB members Aemma Arryn suffered with class or grace as she fulfilled her queenly duties, like the High Valyrian Queen she is.
A stark contrast to the "Filthy Low Class" Alicent Hightower with her "inferior genetics" who wanted Viserys to give a damn about the kids he had with her. How dare Alicent Hightower want what was the best for her children? Only Rhaenyra gets to do that! How dare she show any agency or ambition instead of sitting in the corner and let the "rightful queen" walk all over her and her children.
How dare she get mad when her son got bullied for not having a dragon? How dare she loose her composure when that same son losses his eye because he got attacked by those same bullies? How dare she attack Rhsenyra the "rightful heir" when she latter asks that her now freshly mutilated son be sharply questioned Why can't she just roll over and die?
190 notes · View notes
hightowersbeacon · 17 days
Text
Can't stand Rhaenyra's and TB's hypocrite ass like they accused and hate teenage Alicent for comforting (nonsexual) Viserys on her father's advice and prodding and how they as in both the characters and their stans refuse to empathize with Alicent because she was asking for it or she deserved it
and hate/dislike child Aemond for claiming Vhagar saying he stole her and disrespected Laena's memory and victim blame him saying he deserved getting his eye slashed for his actions
BUT when adult Rhaenyra has sex with Laena's husband ON the day of her funeral on the BEACH (her sister in law & cousin who she grew up with) then its ok... they were celebrating Laena blah blah blah
Not to mention they had Laenor fake his death so they could get married.. I felt so bad for all their children at that moment, even at their Valyrian wedding (not a respectable mourning period I'm sure), all children looked so fucking miserable.
she's such a hypocrite, she lives in her own delulu bubble I swear 😭😭😭she's like one of those white liberals who only cares about an issue as long as it affects her.
(also something something about Alicent's eye for eye was her being cruel and dramatic Rhaenyra's son for son was her being in mourning her son and completely justified oh well)
209 notes · View notes
2rats1gogh · 1 month
Text
I’ve never really seen anyone talking about this, but I noticed that one of the main reasons why I am team green is because team green feels like an actual team that is in this whole thing together.
Team Green feels connected, united, like a family.
Team Black on the other hand is… meh.
And let me explain why:
Rhaenyra being delusional and thinking that Daemon is actually in love with her when he literally just groomed her since she was a child because he has always been after her title and now wants to be her king consort. They have one of the most toxic, creepy and problematic relationships in the entire fucking show.
Then there is the very awkward and uncomfortable moment of Rhaenyra and Daemon having sex on Laena’s funeral, while Rhaenys, Corlys, Baela, Rhaena and Laenor are mourning the loss of their daughter, mother and sister. How fucking disrespectful is this. And then the fact that they have Laenor “killed” just so they can get married and have their own perfectly blonde targaryen babies.
And Rhaenyra lying about Jace, Luke and Joff to everyone in her very own “team”, trying to gaslight not only Corlys, and Rhaenys but also her own sons into thinking they are trueborn, when even Jace himself. as a child, starts asking questions.
Then there are obviously Rhaenys and Corlys, who for some fucking reason neglected their trueborn granddaughters in favor of some dark haired white bastards their daughter-in-law is trying to pass off as their son’s children. Rhaenys is trying sooo hard to please her misogynistic husband because he so desperately wants his name to go down in history. Then the disrespectful betrothal of Jace and Luke to Baela and Rhaena. Rhaenyra is literally robbing these poor girls of their rightful claim to Driftmark and usurping them. And now, with Luke being dead, Rhaena’s claim dies with him.
Baela and Rhaena losing their mother, and now their father suddenly remarries, and has two blonde boys. Rhaenys losing BOTH her children and then seeing her son-in-law and daughter-in-law getting married soon after that.
Everyone in team black is after their own ambitions. They lie to each other, they don’t trust each other, they suspect each other in different things, they cheat on each other (with each other) and lie about it, they give each other forced ultimatums, and yada yada. All their scenes feel forced, tense, awkward and uncomfortable. They look so miserable with each other.
Team Green in this sense is the exact opposite.
Although their dynamic is far from perfect, obviously, you cannot deny that they care about each other very very deeply.
Alicent loves all of her children, and even while acknowledging their flaws, she still loves them.
Aemond might’ve been a little envious of Aegon, but he would never turn his back on him. He would never betray his brother, be would never try to take his crown from him.
Aegon was far from being a perfect man and king, but, as we know, it was his love for his family, and the fear of them getting hurt that made him a more responsible person and a more protective father, husband and brother. Sure, he is a cheater, but at least he’s honest about it and doesn’t lie to his wife. He is not a hypocrite.
Criston is working for Alicent not for ambition or for self-gain, but because he genuinely loves her, whether it’s romantic or platonic, doesn’t matter.
Helaena would never betray her family, her brothers, her mother. They are all she has. She would never switch sides even if given an opportunity.
And even Otto, arguably one of the main villains of the whole show, still loves his family. Sure, he is ambitious, but he would never become Corlys level of ambitious.
Team Green feels like they are fighting against the enemy all together, they have the same goals, they feel united and you can feel their devotion to each other. Especially after blood and cheese, when they become closer than ever. They’re in this together and only if they stick to each other, they can make it. It feels genuine and honest. They don’t hide anything from each other, they always have their loved ones’ best interests at heart, they would never in a million years betray each other. Yes, they are all doomed from the start, but their dedication and love to each other is truly something else.
421 notes · View notes
mhsdatgo · 5 months
Text
Always hated the way according to TB I'm supposed, as a woman, to root for Rhaenyra "Mary Sue" Targaryen because she's a Valyrian woman and can't do no wrong. Otherwise I'm framed as a misogynist, an enabler, a rape apologist, every name in the book. As if this isn't the same girl who coerced her bodyguard because her erectile disfunction uncle didn't wanna bang her after leaving her in a brothel, naked and on plain sight for any kind of perverted brute. As if this isn't the same girl who weaponized both her and her best friend's trauma to twist a truth about something she very willingly did that could've had her disowned if her father was anyone else other than the weak ass neglectful rapist pedo father she had instead.
This is the same girl who ignored and mistreated Alicent when all she did was convince Viserys to allow her privileges she never had, like choosing a husband. Like it or not, it was Alicent the one who gave gave and gave, and Rhaenyra the one who took took and took and even MOCKED, time and time again. The same girl who acted like a victim when the girl she called her literal best friend (only when it benefitted her) was getting maritally R*PED in the next room by her crusty ass father. She never tried connecting with her siblings because they were Alicent's children. Not because their minds were poisoned, not because they were apparently bitter towards her. Because they weren't her mother's children. Same as Viserys. Guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
I'm supposed to root for a woman who doesn't do one single thing for the claim she feels so entitled to (who was purely based on Viserys' grief and guilt for Aemma)? I'm supposed to root for a woman who brings back to the line of succession the same man everyone wanted far from the line of succession? I'm supposed to root for the woman who wants to be the exception, not give possibilities to other women like an ACTUAL feminist does? She usurps her stepdaughters' claims in favor of her obviously bastard children, and no, betrothing the fpur of them isn't the same. If they die, the girls' claim dies with them, and guess what, exactly that happened.
No, I will not root for the woman who wanted a teenager's head because she was black and because she couldn't cope with the fact that "hEr pRiNcE" didn't love her, only what her title could offer. Or the woman who put a price on a 6yo's and a 2yo's head simply because they were her brother's children, thereby proving what Criston said about what was needed for Jace to raise to power after his mother. She even denied the request of multiple older daughters/sisters who rightfully wanted to lead their houses, with the excuse that the relam would be far too 'imbalanced'. Girl, are you that dense? There's the smallfolk getting eaten and burned and taxes by your dragon and your entire family fighting wars and dying left and right and you think two women ruling their houses will destabilize the realm?
Rhaenyra is many things, but feminist is not among them, no matter how much you cry and whine about it. Yes, I'm aware that no woman in asoiaf or f&b can be described as feminist. But the convinction (and delusion) that Rhaenyra is, without a shadow of doubt, is mindblowing. She's arguably worse than any of said women combined.
No, I don't feel represented or uplifted by a tyrant, classist, racist, hypocritical, spoiled kinslayer with god complex because she's albino and has a pet dragon as spoiled and as useless as her. Sorry not sorry.
647 notes · View notes
dreamfyre-beautiful · 6 months
Text
Yknow what? I agree with Criston Cole.
He shouldn’t say that about Rhae!!- Why not? He’s allowed to dislike ONE woman who was his BOSS.
He shouldn’t bully Rhae’s kids!!- nah he should have bullied them harder. (Also if he was nice the court could say they were HIS kids, putting him in more danger!
He shouldn’t have killed Joffrey or that other guy (I forgot his name 💀)- ight, Daemon shouldn’t have killed Vaemond but y’all cheered that on so idk.
I think he should have been WORSE, I want him pushing the strongs in the dirt and laugh when aegon copies him. I want him to be disgusted by Rhaenrya, Daemon, and Viserys; to fight back a gag when he has to be near viserys, to use his power as a kings guard to be an asshole to those under him cuz he’s alicents favorite.
Melt him be a lil brat he deserves it.
281 notes · View notes
multifandotakugirl · 4 months
Text
oh to be 10 years old, with a gouged out eye, watching as your father turned away from you, and showed you that he would never care about you, considered torturing you, threatened to cut your tongue, and do nothing to your abusers who slashed out your eye after ambushing you in a 4v1, and no one made a move to do anything different instead of one (1) person
your mother.
who is desperate and as alone as you are, because you've both just realized that you've given too many years trying to earn the love of a man who was never even capable of seeing you because of his emotional blindness and stupidity
i too, would grow up to be a momma's boy, if in the worst time of my childhood, only one person was on my side, even if it meant going against the entire world at that point in time.
he fought a 4v1, but his mother chose a 10v1 (more than 10; she was surrounded by team black members and her two green members, excluding the rest of her children who were, well, children, didn't do shit). they were both just as alone, and yet she showed that they would forever have each other's back even if no one else would.
320 notes · View notes
thesunfyre4446 · 28 days
Text
the way that some people talk about helaena is just disgusting.
you have the people that straight up say that they're looking forward to b&c & don't care about her at all. which is fine i mean at least you're honest (though can't understand why anyone would be looking forward to seeing a 6yo kid get brutally murdered but ok)
then you have the people who try and "claim" helaena as TB. they say that helaena hates her family & her mom & her family is the reason that her life was ruined - and not b&c and maelor's death caused by rhaenyra and daemon. and it's so obvs they're just using that as an excuse to justify their favs horrible actions.
helaena's family did not ruin her life.
in the book it was viserys that arranged her marriage to aegon. so don't go crying in the comments about "the book", in the show the alternative is jace - and alicent was not about to let her daughter become rhaenyra's unofficial hostage. the twins are obvs not 6 and were aged down so show!helaena gave birth prob at 17. (these kids are not 6) by marrying aegon, helaena gets to stay at home with her family.
Tumblr media
helaena is not suicidal. there is nothing in the show or the book to indicate that she is suicidal or depressed. she's described as a happy girl in the book and in the show we don't really get a lot of scenes with her but there's 0 indication to her being depressed. helaena committed suicide because of her children's death. the greens did not kill her children.
helaena does not hate her children. literally stfu. you can claim that because she's a teen mom (rhaenyra was also a teen mom but i digress) motherhood is prob not easy for her. but the fact that some people say that she hated her kids as a way to justify b&c is disgusting.
helaena being portrayed as neurodivergent & sensitive to touch does not mean that she can't or doesn't love her family. this take makes me want to scream. one of my best friends is also extremely sensitive to touch. she rarely lets her mom hug her and that's OK. everyone has different boundaries.
stop infantilizing helaena!!!!!!!!!!!!! she's an adult!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and all of these excuses are somehow supposed to make b&c and maelor's death look less bad & daemyra less guilty. oh, daemon had her child brutally murdered before her eye? nah, she hated her children anyway lol rhaenyra drove her to suicide? well, she was always depressed and suicidal so it's not that big of a deal... (and don't even get me started on the "why didn't she just go to rhaenyra on dragonstone" as if she'd ever betray her family & like her own sons weren't also at risk if rhaenyra became queen)
i really can't. mind you, these are the people that scream and cry misogyny but are willing to use another female character in such a cynical and sinister way to justify their favs action. and yes, i'm calling it sinister because it feels VERY sinister. the discourse about helaena makes me so uncomfortable. (and the discourse around jaehaera is also disturbing af)
sorry about the rant.
Tumblr media
249 notes · View notes
maryonaccross · 10 months
Text
Small reminder that Viserys is remembered as “the peaceful” because of the decisions Otto and Alicent made during his reign as his advisors.
Every single decision Viserys made by himself directly lay a foundation for the dance of the dragons to happen and was therefore everything other than peace orientated.
1K notes · View notes
saltywinteradult · 21 days
Note
Anon needs to understand there’s more than one way to be a bad parent, Viserys and Rhaenyra are proof of this.
Viserys enabled his daughter to extreme measures, all he had to do was send Harwin away the minute Jace was born but he buried his head in the sand instead. Rhaenyra wasn’t exactly discreet either, she was very openly sleeping with Harwin for the whole court to see and was emboldened to have THREE back to back pregnancies because she knew her father wouldn’t stop her. How is this good parenting? A good father would have taught his daughter actions have consequences.
Rhaenyra is no better, through her relationship with Harwin she shows her sons they can do whatever the hell they want with 0 consequence and this has long term repercussions. Luke openly mocks the boy he DISABLED, Jace breaks his betrothal to Baela, they do whatever the hell they want because they know their mother will enable them.
Say it louder for the people in the back, anon!
Viserys set a terrible example of parenthood for Rhaenyra. Considering that, it's not surprising that she would become just as much of an enabler to her own kids. The cycles do be cycling after all. That's a large part of this story. It makes me sad to see that aspect of the story, and of Rhaenyra's character, go ignored by her fans. Then again, the Team Black stans don't acknowledge that Viserys was a terrible father either, so I don't know what I expected.
Slight tangent here, but I would like to add that not only would a good father teach his daughter that actions have consequences, a good king would've taught his heir that actions have consequences.
As entitled as Rhaenyra is, her view of herself as exceptional isn't entirely unfounded. She's a princess. She's a dragonrider. She's the first female heir to the throne. She is exceptional in a lot of ways. But no one has bothered to teach her that that exceptional position 1) does not make her inherently better than anyone else, and 2) comes with responsibility. Viserys's and subsequently Rhaenyra's enabling would've been bad enough if they were just regular people, but they're the ruling family of Westeros. Their family dysfunction and infighting literally have consequences for the entire country. That means it's exponentially more important for them to not make decisions that lead to family dysfunction and infighting. That is so obvious I feel like I shouldn't even have to say it.
Viserys marrying Alicent and then treating her and their children like shit shows he clearly didn't understand this, so it's not surprising to me that Rhaenyra didn't learn this either. Hell, Viserys literally enables and supports Rhaenyra in breaking the law! Rhaenyra knows that advocating for her bastards, who everyone knows are bastards, to inherit over trueborn heirs is treason. Viserys knows this too and he supports her anyway. Why wouldn't Rhaenyra assume that she can do whatever the hell she wants? Why wouldn't she adopt that same mindset for her own children? Of course someone raised on toxic Targaryen exceptionalism and by an extremely enabling parent isn't gonna grow up to be a good person, a good parent, or a good ruler! Again, the cycles are cycling. That's the point. These are all perfectly realistic flaws for Rhaenyra to have and perfectly realistic mistakes for her to make. But they are flaws. They are mistakes. Not acknowledging that does her character and the story a huge disservice.
117 notes · View notes