#Hotd ask

[princesssszzzz]

It’s so funny when people try to hate on Nettles, Rhaena, and Baela when they are really the most innocent characters with fan bases that have the least drama. There is nothing to hate

Honestly though. The entire show has bad writing. When Baela and Rhaena are the victims of badly written scenes it’s anti them. When it’s anyone else it’s rush to interference and let everyone know it’s not the characters/actors but the writers. The fake outrage about most of their scenes will never not be funny to me.

Like clockwork every time Baela and Rhaena get attention from the general public there’s fandom people that get bothered and start posting think pieces pretending to critic the writing. The only genuine criticism that show gets regarding their characters are from people that actually like them. The rest of it is just hating disguised as criticism. There’s people in the fandom who ignore them and pretend like they don’t exist and in their echo chambers they forget that Baela & Rhaena have actual Stans. They leave their echo chamber and get mad the characters aren’t being perceived how they perceive them in their spaces; which is disregarded and only brought up for concern trolling and fandom discourse. There’s the black stans that don’t see them as anything other than props. Baela goes viral and you see a bunch of people suddenly trying to latch Rhaenyra onto her and Laena 😂 when they don’t even have a relationship and Rhaenys was literally the one who raised her. Or if they want Nettles cut they pretend to gaf about Daemon’s relationship with Rhaena when they’ve ignored it for the past 2 years and laughing about how Daemon doesn’t care about anyone other than Rhaenyra which includes his kids 😂 but now they want to see father of the year Lmfaoo

Then there’s the green stans obsessed with discourse and wanting the GA to see characters the way they see them and don’t want Baela & Rhaena to be fan faves. The incessant trying to convince everyone to find them boring and “they don’t do anything in the book.” There was entire discourse about how green characters should have their stories changed and embellished and it’s only fair because Rhaena “gets to claim a dragon” as if Rhaena having her story erased and ruined is a good thing. It just makes it obvious it’s not really about the story to people. The only thing they think of is 90% of people that watch that show aren’t even following the story but only want to see dragons and violence and they think Rhaena having a dragon will make her popular. That’s literally all they care about 😂😂so unserious Mind you these are the same people that will pretend to stan Netty so they can be “outraged” at Rhaena stealing Sheepstealer. And they reduce her character to sleeping with Daemon and don’t understand why she should be in the show and her importance in the dance is not breaking up some raggedy ship.

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Hi!

In your opinion, why do you think Alicent's character is so hated? Your reasons to dislike her? (I want to know if they are the same as mine's Imao)

Nice blog btw 🥰

Thank you @97black-storm 💖

I don't dislike book! Alicent, I only dislike her show version.

In the books, she's a strong-willed, ambitious woman who impacts the story with her actions instead of being affected by other people's choices. She's a proactive character instead of a passive one and that's something I respect. She can also be mean and cruel and she's quite a hypocrite but an interesting character doesn't always have to be a good person ( and she's interesting and rotten at the same time). She's kinda like Cersei for me. I don't root for her but I do find her compelling.

However, show! Alicent is a different case entirely. Sometimes, I see glimpses of her book counterpart and then I think that maybe the writers are portraying her as a self righteous woman. One that believes that she can do no wrong and who deludes herself that she's the ultimate victim while not recognising she's the one who causes harm. I can also find that version of her interesting, despite the fact that it's not the same as book! Alicent.

Unfortunately, other times I do believe that the writers really meant to show Alicent on a sympathetic light and that version of herself doesn't sit right with me. Because no matter what the writers or the actors tell us on interviews, Alicent's actions don't align with her supposed "poor victim" status.

Most of my irritation with her character comes from her annoying fandom who preach that she can do no wrong and treat her like she's a helpless teenager when she's a grown up woman with agency over her actions.

[bohemian-nights]

i hate what they did to laena on the show. not only has her importance to daemon been reduced to "second best" but also her death was unnecessarily brutal and i hated it from the first time i saw it. after all, at least in the book, laena tried to do what she loved one last time: fly and daemon really seemed to care about her and grieve for her death.

I have a feeling they wanted to make laena su*cide look like "death of a dragonrider" and her agenda, for rhaenyra to look badass when sunfyre burn and eat her. the small part she had seems to exist only to enhance rhaenyra. Hotd isn't even in season 2 yet and it already makes me angry, Got at least took 6 seasons for me to realize the mistakes..

👆🏽The last paragraph is why they really did it. No one in their right mind thinks committing suicide by dragon fire(how many suicides do you see where someone is lighting themselves on fire) is empowering. It’s something a desperate woman who’s out of her mind would do. Even the actress who played older Laena (Nanna Blondell) originally questioned why Sara Hess put that in there(there’s an hour-long podcast on YouTube where she talks about her role as Laena).

They reworked Laena’s story just to make Queenie’s death look better in the end. And the thing about it is it’s still a wasted effort because Rhaenyra doesn’t voluntarily kill herself.

She literally is on the run with no money(she has to sell her jewels/crown), no powerful friends who will come to her aid(cause she locked Corlys up and went after Nettles so Daemon left her a**), and no dragon(cause the small folk she didn’t think were a threat where actually a threat).

She’s going back to Dragonstone thinking it’s a safe place and she can regroup there, but her home has been overtaken by the enemy. She’s lost everything and then she loses her life at the hands of her crippled brother and his crippled dragon🤣

I’m only laughing cause her stans really think she’s a bad b*tch when she’s not. She’s a broke b*tch(in spirit and in “reality”).

This isn’t dying like a “dragon rider”(the concept doesn’t exist in book canon since her dumba** fans love pointing to the books which never support their delusional arguments by the way) this is dying like the flop she:

(I do feel sorry that little Aegon had to witness that, but even her last boy did nothing to immortalize his mother’s memory. Queenie flopped hard🤷🏽‍♀️)

At this point, I’ve been counting the first season as a trial run. I’ve seen some shows that had a meh first season(only the second half of HOTD was really terrible to me) but turned around to have decent other seasons. However, the fact that they cut the number of episodes plus the striking situation and the fact that they didn’t fully clean house with the showrunner shake up 😬

Laena was unfortunately a victim of sh*tty biased writing, but there’s always hope that her girls get the storylines they deserve.

[godofstory]

I’ve fallen into Lucemond hell (which I am awfully conflicted about) however your Keeping Up with the Targaryens is sustaining me through it - thank you so much, you’re a comedic master 😂😂

Lucemond is that ship that you hate to love but its enemies to lovers is so strong that you just can't not ship it XD

awww thank you😍 I'm glad I was able to help with your shipping problems🤣

[idksmtms]

Tolerate It scratches my brain in a way nothing else has in a while. You are so talented thank you for blessing us with your work. I do have a question though so do you foresee reader supporting Rhaneyra’s claim or do you think she would side more with Alicent? Like would she stand by her sister because at the end of the day it’s her sister or would she see Alicent as her greatest support and gravitate towards her? I was also wondering about what reader and Rhaneyra’s relationship is like. Thank you again!!!

This might be the best compliment I have ever gotten. You absolute sweetheart Anon... I'm sending you all the love in my heart, all the love in the world, and will appreciate you until the day that I die. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Firstly, I love this question, you've made me think really hard, but I'll start by answering what reader and Rhaenyra's relationship is like. Be prepared for a long ass yap session.

Their relationship is very complex (as I feel all familial relationships are) but I would definitely not describe them as close. Their entire lives have been a constant series of things left unspoken to the point that they drifted apart and were never able to find each other again. I also think that being witness to the contentious relationship between Viserys and Daemon probably made them both subconsciously wary of having sibling relationships.

On top of that, the way I viewed Rhaenyra in season one was someone who is a little bit selfish (no shade, she was young and grew and bla bla bla) and I think this would also have a negative effect on her relationship with a sibling, especially a sister considering all the pressure there was for Viserys to have a son.

Aaaaand then, their mother died so the one tether that was probably holding them together was severed and they weren't really given the psychological tools to repair their relationship. Plus the dynamic they would probably have had with their parents, older being favoured versus younger being doted upon, which sister is generally considered more pretty, and the eventual focus on Rhaenyra as heir definitely didn't help.

In culmination, I find them to be fundamentally different people and there were instances in their lives in which they disagreed to the point of simply stepping away from each other and considering each other a sort of awkward acquaintance you are forced to like but don't know enough about to form a definitive opinion.

Ok, deciding on who reader would like to support is actually so difficult, and I think reader would feel the same way. And it's not just about her choosing between Alicent and Rhaenyra but choosing between convention versus change, choosing between siblings (because I thoroughly believe Reader views the TargTower children as an opportunity for her to actually have siblings she will love and dotes on them when they are babies).

So, I believe she would support Rhaenyra, but it would be a hugely difficult decision for her and here's why:

I think she would support Rhaenyra simply because Rhaenyra is her full sister and one of the canon values it seems in HOTD universe is family (obviously in different ways but still). She isn't close to Rhaenyra, frankly probably doesn't like her very much either, but Viserys named her heir and it is her duty to support Rhaenyra

She would support Rhaenyra because Daemon, her husband, supports Rhaenyra, and I see reader as someone who is too adherent to canon gender expectations and would support Rhaenyra simply because her husband chooses to and she must be in line with her husband.

I also think she would support Rhaenyra because she seems the lesser of two evils. While reader loves Alicent and her children, she is very observant and can see the flaws they all carry. She sees the power Otto wields over Alicent and his little machinations to get his descendants on the throne and simply his power-hungry behaviour and she does not like it. And though she loves her younger siblings, she sees how Alicent's neglect has turned them into people not fit to be making decisions for others. Aegon gets drunk all the time and is desperate for approval and wholly unsure of his own identity and place in the world. Helaena doesn't want to have anything to do with a life outside her dreams and bugs and would only be a queen in name through marriage or someone forcing it on her so they could use her as a figurehead and control everything behind the scenes. Aemond's seeming apathy and almost heartless quality doesn't sit right with her (especially as someone who puts kindness high on her list of desirable qualities) so he's out of contention as well. That really only leaves Rhaenyra as someone who would be the best of horrible options. (I also think she wouldn't mind Aegon as king but what she minds is all the people pulling the strings behind him and controlling him).

She is also a firm believer that Viserys would not have changed his mind because of how he began favouring Rhaenyra after she was named heir.

And in the end she values loyalty and commitment and the kingdom decided on Rhaenyra as heir, going back on their word is betrayal (and we know this hits a certain spot inside her...)

Sorry for the really long answer but I got way too into it!

[greenqueenhightower]

But alicent does not love rhaenyra more than her children, older alicent didn't even love older rhaenyra

Hi, thanks for the ask <3

As I mentioned before, I don’t think that Rhaenicent is meant to be a love ship per se and I do stand against the idea that Alicent loves anyone or anything more than her children. And yes, when Rhaenyra and Alicent were younger, they had more opportunities to bond and to express their love and affection with one another, and to be close. As soon as Rhaenyra is named Viserys’ heir, and Alicent becomes the Queen, their relationship becomes stagnant and more complicated but as is evident from the interactions between them (namely, Alicent keeping the torn page, the subtle gazes, still holding hands and yearning for each other’s touch, Alicent not wanting the green council to harm Rhaenyra etc) they still have feelings for one another. What is interesting is that, they themselves are not quite sure what those feelings are, or have become, with the passing of years.

But there is no way that Alicent loves Rhaenyra more than those kids for whom she has already suffered 23 years of abuse by Viserys and for the sake and safety of whom she does all she does.

All in all, Rhaenicent is a "look what we could have been" ship full of angst and regret and outrage and that’s okay! It’s the story of two women making wrong decisions out of hate and hurt and fear and becoming the worst versions of themselves as a result. And the reason?

Because both of them love other people and other things more than they grow to value their relationship, and that’s the point. There are a lot of things in between them now: the Iron Throne, their past mistakes, but most importantly, the love each of them has for her own children. Nothing could ever come between this love, nothing could break it. And that is why Rhaenicent is so tragic. There is no hope for a happy ending, there is no hope for peace and consolation. The only option is to get tangled up into this all consuming and meaningless war that will be the end of them both.

Hope that answers your question!

[lostchildofthenewworld]

What do you consider to be Daemon Targaryen's true motivation/desire? I remember in the comments of your deleted fic you mentioned it wasn't simply power or the Iron Throne.

I think acknowledgment.

D*emon T*rgaryen on the surface is everything that House T*rgaryen could hope for: a prolific warrior/swordsmen, prince, dragonrider. It was him who raised an army for his brother, and I wonder what that says about Viserys, could he not raise one himself? That even with people’s dislike of him, he was still able to find allies that backed his brother because of he, himself. It must rankle him, as the years go on and he sees how weak Viserys is and even when he’s made his brother’s heir, it’s not solidified or even wanted by the people. Viserys went so far as continuing to get Aemma pregnant, even with her miscarriage and ultimately going so far as to having her cut open in his want of a son.

I don’t think he loved Rhaenyra, not truly. She was a means to an end, and I doubt any of her bastards would’ve grown old enough to inherit the throne, without him finding a way to get rid of them for his own Valyrian children to be the rightful heirs. After all, we know how much he wanted a Valyrian bride. I doubt truthfully and honestly, he would stomach those bastards for long, not when he has finally gotten two male children who look like Valyrians.

I think that had to hurt too. lol His niece being heir and then her having bastards who are so obviously not her husband’s. Once again, he’s looked over. His actions against his brother, against the nobility, scream for attention, for acknowledgment. For someone to say, “perhaps he’s more than what we thought” but in a positive way. In the beginning of the end, he won right. His sons lived and became kings, but it was also his last two male descendants that saw to the toppling of his own house. Even more funny, it’s Robert, a man who claimed the Iron Throne through his T*rgaryen grandmother who became king, who hated all things T*rgaryen. But even he was murdered as well.

[ellakomskaikru]

Alicent >> Rhaenyra

Alicole >> Daemyra

I disagree. I love Rhaenyra because I find her character very interesting and I also want her to be queen as she was meant to be. She’s also just way more likable to me than Alicent. I find her to be a fun character. I do feel sympathy for Alicent on some level, she is a victim of the patriarchy like Rhaenyra but unlike her wasn’t able to find any freedom. But she then in her bitterness also became a perpetrator of the patriarchy, and I can’t defend many of her actions when she is an adult.

Rhaenyra isn’t perfect either, she can be reckless and selfish, but those negative traits bother me less than Alicent thinking she’s actually a better person than Rhaenyra. I wouldn’t call myself a Daemyra shipper but I’m not against the ship either. In the beginning I didn’t like it for obvious reasons but honestly it’s a Targaryen show so I don’t care anymore lol. As to Alicole, I don’t care for the ship because I don’t like either of the characters in that ship, especially Criston Cole.

[factorydefaultlu]

While at Dragonstone Jace and his twin get married in the Targaryen tradition and have a little baby boy. Aegon and Aemond are mad that there childhood crush is married but Viserys is happy he got to meet his great grandson.

Aww 💗

[derangedthots]

Who would be the Three Heads in Rhaenyra's time/Jace's era?

Tbh, if Rhaenys had lived I feel like it would've been her, Daemon, and Rhaenyra during Nyra's time but as for Jace... oo I don't know, I think it would just depend if this is post-Dance or No Dance! This is a Big Girl question and I don't have the braincells to answer conclusively ahhh😭😭

[fyrewcters]

will you ever write part 2 for prejudice? I really enjoyed it. Good writing!

I’d happily write a part two, I would just need to brainstorm ideas if not I’m happily taking requests

[princesssszzzz]

Daemon's relationship with his daughters.

"It's about the same as Visery's with his children with Alicent. 

I like to think they were close at first, but following Laena’s death and his marriage to Rhaenyra, they became strained over the years. Especially with Baela being raised by Rhaenys and Rhaena feeling like the odd one out.

Even if it’s a deleted scene, Daemon comforting his daughters following their mothers deaths is something I can see him doing... at that point in time. 

When Rhaneyra became pregnant with her and Daemon’s children, I think Daemon began to prioritize her more and more.

Daemon’s priority is his family’s dynasty over their well-being, and Rhaenyra represents that. Therefore, she and her children were of more importance to Daemon than his other family. And when the dance started, he became more self-absorbed.

**TLDR:** He was there for them during their early childhood, but as the years went by, they became part of the scenery in favor of his “more important” family."

https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseOfTheDragon/s/CDrPkCKHBf

You guys are too nice and using too many brain cells for brainless writing 😂 There’s no thought process behind Daemon’s relationship with Baela and Rhaena. It’s just thrown together last minute and doesn’t actually make sense. When the cast and crew try to explain it in interviews everyone will see how it’ll be word salad to make sense of what’s happening in the writer’s room.

In S2 they retcon Daemon’s relationship with Baela to force a relationship with Rhaenyra that doesn’t actually exist because Baela has never lived with her and has no reason to respect or care about her opinions. Daemon is now incompetent as a war leader and a parent so his daughters are forced to have scenes with Rhaenyra by default. To appease shippers and self inserters, they thought it was romantic for Daemon to not gaf about any female character or have emotional scenes with them.

During the 2 years both the shippers and writers realized that included his daughters and didn’t expect people to point out that the “happy family” is not happy when his daughter is not being treated well. Basically, they can not play house if the girls are not happy with their new living situation. So now Rhaena’s entire show arc from S1 is undermined by her father who ignored her for not having a dragon because he’s now ignoring both daughters and it’s 1 and a half seasons in with no scenes giving an explanation for why. The issue here is that Baela is his first born and actually has the personality and characteristics that Daemon favors. Unless they want to portray him as misogynistic and he favors sons over daughters automatically, there is no sense in him favoring anyone over Baela. I don’t think Viserys has that dynamic with his kids with Alicent. The writers basically wasted their time with the way they portrayed the marriages because despite what they want to portray, Daemon’s marriage to Laena is the closest thing to a positive relationship Daemon will ever have. He never choked her, he listened to her more than he listens to anyone else, and she is his “type” which is a Valyrian dragonrider. They’re now trying to make very philosophical and deep with him at Harrenhal but really they just need to admit they aren’t good at writing 😂

The issue is that when all the writing is written to center Rhaenyra to the point where it doesn’t make sense, the characters are written OOC made to look nonsensical

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

https://www.tumblr.com/asongofstarkandtargaryen/752326990075428864/i-understand-that-daemon-is-in-pain-for-losing?source=share

Hi, I saw the post you made about the Daemon and Rhaenys scene and I think you're right that Daemon is so hurt that he blames everyone for what happened to Luke, but I also get the feeling that Daemon's point of view:

*When Rhaenys breaks the news of Viserys' death, she tells Nyra "The greens are coming for you Rhaenyra and for your childrens" and then turns around as if to leave, otherwise Rhaenyra lets out a small cry of pain.

So I think from Daemon's point of view, she was just going to leave without offering any help.

She may not have known exactly what would happen to Luke, but she knew that the Greens wanted to harm him and his brothers.

That's why I think he has resentment there.

That's my point of view, maybe I'm wrong or I'm the only one who felt that way. . 🙃 🌻

Hello!

I agree with your opinion on Daemon's perspective. He probably felt that Rhaenys wasn't dedicated to their cause and since he's one of the most, if not the most, dedicated to Team Black's agenda he snapped at her.

From Rhaenys' perspective I don't really think her words meant that she was gonna leave Team Black. Her husband fights for this cause, her grandkids are linked to it, so I doubt she was actually gonna leave. Plus, the words the said that she would pity Aemond if he crosses Rhaenyra's way makes me think that she believes in her niece and her abilities.

In my opinion, both Rhaenys when she broke the news to Rhaenyra and Daemon when he had a chat with Rhaenys were shocked and emotional because of the tragic ending of Lucerys. During stressful and sad moments people can say things they don't really mean or things they do believe but wouldn't say under normal circumstances. So, I can cut them some slack.

As for the second part of your ask, the Greens want to harm/kill everyone who actively participates on Team Black's war campaign. Eventually, they would kill all of Rhaenyra's sons because they would consider them a threat to Aegon's ruling. However, it wasn't possible to predict that they ( and by they I actually mean Aemond) would kill a little boy who didn't participate on any battle but instead was sent as an envoy to the Baratheons. That's why I believe that it's unfair of Daemon to blame Rhaenys for something that no one could predict ( bc if they could they would never sent him there in the first place). The blame lies only on his killer.

But as I said before I understand that this conversation takes place during a stressful and sad time for both characters so I'm not really pointing fingers on either of them.

[bohemian-nights]

People want to get on Alicent and call her a whore for showing her feet to Larry's but see Rhaenyra BEGGING Daemon for a quick f*ck on the beach on the SAME DAY that his wife just got buried and call her a girl boss for it.... PATHETIC

Also it's interesting that Rhaenyra gets abandoned/left alone twice by Daemon in their supposed "romantic" scenes, he leaves her alone in a brothel (he could have easily just grabbed her and say "No! We're going home!") And on the beach where Rhaenyra wakes up alone and Daemon is watching Vhagar.

Yep, and the thing is they don’t see how saying that oh Rhaenyra is an adult, she’s in control, blah blah blah, only makes it worse because, unlike Alicent who is being blackmailed into prostituting* herself, Queenie willingly throws herself at a man who a. Abused her and continues to abuse her(see choke-gate) b. Abandons her(which is why she was so butthurt and asks him if he loved Laena because she straight up could not stand the thought of that) and c. Doesn’t really care about her a**(he wants to f*ck her daddy/wants power, but he’ll never be king and he can’t be with Viserys so she’s the next best thing. She’s still not good enough though which is why certain events take place 😏)

How her stans think this dumba** pick me is a #girlboss will never not amaze me. Her character is a bird 🦜who never learns which is why she keeps getting abandoned(which eventually gets her killed because she thinks Daemon’s a** is loyal to her🤣).

Her being abandoned twice now by Daemon could be a nice setup for future events👀 (and it's thrice if you count how Daemon was giddy planning war while she almost died giving birth to lizard 🙃)

Now before anyone says “But but but my Valaryan queen wasn’t abandoned in the books,” the Nettles’ situation(when she needs him the most Daemon chooses a girl he has only known for less than six months over his niece-wife he’s known since her birth) begs to differ🤷🏽‍♀️

Rhaenyra is literally the most pathetic woman during the Dance(chasing after d*ck that doesn’t truly want you will never not be pathetic). And as much as I love Daemon, he wasn’t worth the obsession. No man is.

*That scene was gross and unnecessary. The fact that the showrunners tried to say that this show doesn’t have any “explicit sexual violence” is a straight-up lie as evidenced by this scene and all the other “love scenes” on this show. Hell, Alicent has been sexually abused/violated in two scenes(and the fact that they cast a barely legal girl to play her for that first scene 😑). Please give this woman a break in season two(and just stop the sexual violence period because it’s too much on a show that is supposed to be more “empowering” for women than GOT).

[sihtryggr]

He is the half of me, I will never know.

[franzkafkagf]

sunfyre canonically is the only bilingual dragon we love a polyglot king