#ali who the fuck cares lmao

[ndostairlyrium]

I was thinking at warden Alistair and the huge survivor guilt he may build up if Hawke is left in the Fade instead. Like, he already gave full command to a rookie back in the day, was taken advantage as a pawn when a ruler had to be chosen for Fereleden, he then failed to convince the wardens to act wisely rather than throwing themselves in the hands of a complete tool of a man. I think he'd feel like, worthless knowing that someone chose him over another person for just, another decision he couldn't make for himself - which is unfair considering that 1) he gave full command to a person that was more fit for the job 2) he was ready to sacrifice his wellbeing for the good of many 3) he was alone against a fucking army. And they were desperate to the point of sacrificing their own brothers for a suicide mission. A worthless one, to add insult to injury. Try to reason with that, alone, without backups.

The guy needs a vacation, really, and also a huge pat in the back because he's actually putting an effort rather than sitting in a corner crying about his bad luck. I mean, he would do that, but the next day he'll be standing and make a self deprecating joke about it as he pushes through.

[live-from-new-york-its]

i’m not ready to say goodbye to the teens… i feel like yeah, not every episode’s a winner, but the characters are improving every. single. episode. and if i have to say goodbye to any of them i’ll cry

[fridayiminlcve]

what is your problem with tiktok or booktok and colleen hoover lmao its not that bad surely

the fact that it actively promotes overconsumerism, the way it sells books to you by just playing into already heavily milked out tropes with very specific character niches that are seen in every book nowadays and how the reading is just seen as something aesthetic or a part of the "it girl routine" maybe? if those are enough reasons for you?

does the fact that these books are the first things you see when you walk into a bookstore not bother you? when you ask someone for a book recommendation they'll follow it up with "its a romance slow burn enemies to lovers". it's always about the aesthetic of the book, how many lines can you take out of context and post as a compilation of your super cute romantic annotations page on instagram. no analyzing the book, no theories, no symbolism or meaningfulness at all. how people stand reading those kind of books and still feel any kind of emotions over these flat as hell books with no world or character building is genuinely baffling to me

no one seems to know about actual literature anymore, which not to sound like a boomer but i think its definitely true. there's always been trend cycles, i agree such as the harry potter craze from the 1990s to the 2000s and the dystopia hunger games/maze runner/divergent blast in the early 2010s but tiktok has just.. shortened these cycles so much. as a result, people like our darling colleen hoover whose written around 46 books since 2015 (according to google) try come up with as much fresh content as they can as quickly as possible for the readers (see overconsumption). the fact that this lady outsold the bible is not outstanding to me, its fucking concerning.

and after all that, the result is badly written books with characters who're about as dimensional as a piece of paper, overuse of tropes, read like they've been written by a toddler, toxic-ass relationships being romanticised, very unnecessary sex scenes and countless other things. seriously if i wanted to read about the kind of stories hoover tells i would just open a wattpad account.

not clowning on those who made the choice to read it. i'm trying to highlight some of the flaws i find in authors like colleen hoover, sjm, ali hazelwood, casey mcquinston. some of them might be good, i wouldn't know because i actively try and avoid them at all costs. also i am BEGGING u all who will have an objection to this post to reach out of your comfort zone and read something different like non-fiction or fantasy or one of the classics for once if you only read booktok like seriously it might be hard but just do it for the love of god!! if you're annoying on this i will block you by the way i don't care

[avnasace]

im loving the fact that tommy is an established character with established relationships with the 118, just like karen, just like athena, just like maddie, because that was a huge thing that made it a part of why i think it was so hard to like bucks previous love interests.

like, yes. abby and taylor tried to gel with them, ali kinda knew OF them, but natalia was completely seperate and lucy wasnt even really a love interest. neither of the main 2 (abby and taylor) actually had any link to anyone other than buck. taylor was the closest (but she fucked that up badly lmao).

im so hyped to see whether we get more of tommy and the 118, because he has history with all of them, except eddie (who he's now good friends with), and buck (who he is now dating).

if you look at all the other 'partners', they are all a part of the 118 family, and pretty linked together: athena is besties with hen and married to bobby, karen lived across from and was good friends with chimney and is now married to hen, maddie is bucks brother and is married to chimney, etc.

i feel like bucks other love interests were only ever linked to him, and he always worried about losing them, because he didnt think he was good enough.

but this time with tommy the difference is (tommy actually cares about buck) that hes known by his family and hes safe and hes confident and caring and patient, plus the rest of the 118 all think hes a good guy, and also tommy saved bathena and chimney and hes friends with eddie, and christopher likes him, etc.

everybody that matters to buck, except maddie, likes and knows tommy.

(and who is he going to introduce tommy to next episode? maddie.)

maybe buck doesnt have to worry so much about him leaving, like abby did, or worry how to introduce tommy to his family and not have him run for the hills from the complex parts of his life, like natalia or ali did

because tommys already halfway in it yknow?

[the-heartlines]

real, genuine question…how are so many of my fellow shippers okay with dead dove helaemond in fanfic but not in the show? because that’s hypocritical as fuck. lmao.

because as someone who adores dead dove, i am living for the direction they’re taking helaemond. listen, linda…

*hotd leaks/spoilers*

aemond is not a nice person. he is slowly losing his grasp on things because he saw the dragon power rhaenyra has gained and he’s also a targaryen prince. he is desperate, pathetic, arrogant, prideful, in a patriarchal society where his godlike hubris has manifested after claiming a dragon, along with the hate that has lived, grew inside him ever since getting his eye taken and a father who turned his eyes from his sons, to never pour affection or literally care for him at all lbr.

the way in which he grabbed helaena so carelessly and harshly, not daring to give her feelings, her pain a second thought, to drag her into a war with him that they’re losing. (that she knows they’re going to lose)

“aemond is abusive for grabbing helaena like that.” i do not believe he is inherently abusive towards helaena. if he continues to act this way towards her, which i seriously doubt after she clocked his ass, (silence, omega!) then yes. but…an absolute dickhead of a brother going mad who acted rashly and stupidly that should get bitch-slapped? yes 1000%, because he’s so desperate, realizing that he fucked up royally burning aegon and sunfyre, that he cannot face multiple dragons alone. (lmao my idiot sandwich son 💀😭)

he’s always felt like a god after claiming vhagar, feeling superior to others because of his dragonblood, but here’s thing. helaena has predicted everything that has happened to him. they are interlinked because she has seen all that will befall him. and he’s beyond terrified here. the scene on the balcony where he confronts her post grabbing her so brutally, showing his hand ghosting hers, how his goddamn voice goes quiet, begging her to lay waste to their enemy—daemon—almost in a meekly genuine tone which we have never heard?! the little boy begging his big sister for help. “the heed to a truer calling” what he’s been taught all his life, that his blood is superior. and then he has tears in his eyes which get even more glassy with more tears of terror when she reveals her dragon dreams, knowing he burnt their brother, telling him of his death, that what he does won’t change anything. aemond’s threats of having her put to death are empty, and lmao worthy because he pretty much just came begging on his hands and knees to ask her to fight. but pookie don’t give a fuck. she knows how this will end and that the death of her family, aemond, the dragons, is the only way to ensure peace in the realm.

my beautiful fucked up doomed tragic sibling duo. i do believe helaemond in s3 will be something delicious if they decide to have aemond work with helaena and expand her dreamer arc, because they’re paralleling her with alys. especially since alys told daemon that he would die in the beginning of the szn and now helaena telling aemond how he’ll die in the finale, after he begs her to fly to harrenhal with him. the daemond x daelys x helaemond x helys parallels be paralleling.

[luvangelbreak]

pls do something based on chris’s birthmark / waist… 😭 i cant

Touch

christopher sturniolo x alice reyna (female!oc) summary: chris and alice have been friends for 6 months and dating for 3 months but alice has never noticed his birthmark. warnings: swearing, very suggestive, fluff? word count: 1.5k a/n: this request is kinda vague so i tried my best to work with what i had LMAO. this one is kinda short but i hope u like it <3

not proofread!

It was the first hot day in months and Alice had convinced Chris, Nick and Matt to go to Malibu with her. By the time they arrived at the beach, getting themselves situated on the sand, it was about 6 pm and the heat of the day was beaming down on them.

"Ali," Nick said grabbing Alice's attention and she spun around after laying her towel flat on the ground, "Do you have the sunscreen?"

"Yeah, here," she nodded, grabbing it out of her handbag and throwing the bottle to Nick who quickly started covering himself in the protective liquid. She quickly tied her hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of her face before she slid off her t-shirt and shorts.

"It's so fucking hot," Matt groaned, sliding off his shirt and sitting down on his towel beside Nick. Alice nodded in agreement as Chris took the black cap off of his head, throwing it onto Alice's bag.

"Fuck this. I'm going straight to the water," Alice announced, throwing her phone on top of her bag before she jogged down the beach. Her feet reached the water, the coldness giving her immediate relief and she instantly ran in, the water reaching her shoulders.

She heard a splash behind her and she turned around to see her boyfriend appear from under the water behind her. He shook his head, shaking the water off of his hair like a dog making her raise her hand to avoid water getting in her eyes.

"Hey," Chris said smoothly, swimming towards her as she smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, "You look pretty, ma."

"You look like a wet dog with this hair," she giggled at him, swiping a few pieces of his wet hair off of his face. He once again shook his head, making her face scrunch as she turned away from him, "Asshole."

"You love me," he mumbled, leaning forward and pressing a delicate kiss to her lips making her melt into him. She pushed her feet off of the ocean floor, wrapping her legs around his waist and he moved his hands to hold her up by her thighs.

"You're lucky you're cute because you're a fucking idiot," she mumbled against his lips with a smile making him return the facial expression, squeezing her thighs and she squeaked, "Chris. We're in public."

"How am I supposed to not touch you when you look this good?" he asked rhetorically with a smirk and she rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed.

She was never truly annoyed with how clingy he was, in fact, she loved it. Whenever they were together, they would be touching in one way or another. Chris always wanted to be close to her, to feel her skin on his. He was like that with his friends, he loved being physically close with anyone he loved and cared about but it was a whole new level with Alice. He couldn't resist squeezing her waist or grabbing her ass, no matter if they were in public or not.

"Alright love birds. Stop fucking in the water," they heard Matt's voice appear beside them and they looked over to see him dip under the water getting his hair wet. Soon enough, Nick joined them in the water and they all swam around until their legs got tired, their arms hurting from splashing heaping amounts of water at each other.

They began walking out of the water and Nick spoke up, "You guys wanna get ice cream?"

"I'm beat. You guys can go," Alice answered tiredly as she walked across the sand.

"I'll come," Matt shrugged to Nick and they all looked at Chris whose mind seemed somewhere else, "Chris?"

"Huh?" he asked, turning to see they were all staring at him.

"You wanna come with me and Nick to get ice cream?" Matt asked, used to his brother zoning out by now and Chris shook his head, stopping right beside his towel.

"I'm tired. I'll wait with Ali," he explained, grabbing the towel off the sand and shaking it off before wrapping it around his shoulders, drying off his hair as best he could.

"You want us to bring any back?" Nick asked, sliding his t-shirt on his torso as Matt slung his t-shirt over his shoulder.

"I'm good," Alice responded and Chris shook his head. Matt and Nick grabbed what they needed before bidding their farewells, promising that they'd be back soon. Alice plopped herself down on her towel, her legs spread out in front of her as she leaned back on her palms.

Her boyfriend decided to push her knees apart and place himself between them, his back to her as he looked out at the sea. Alice smiled at his actions, his clinginess showing once again. She scanned his hair and trailed her eyes along his neck and shoulders. She loved every inch of him but she'd realised she never paid much mind to his back.

Her eyes took in every detail, freckles and all. It was only then that she noticed a round birthmark the size of a bottle cap on his lower back. She leaned forward, taking one of her hands and running her fingertips along the birthmark making him jump.

"I didn't know you had a birthmark," she said softly and he spun around to look at her, a smile on his lips.

"It's how our parents used to tell me and Matt apart when we were babies," he explained and she nodded, her fingertips delicately trailing his flesh raising goosebumps on the skin.

She leaned forward, placing her chin on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer to her. She liked that Chris didn't necessarily care about being the big or little spoon, he just wanted to be close to her in any way he could and if that meant he was the little spoon, he was happy as a clam.

"I love you so much," she mumbled, placing a kiss on his shoulder and he leaned his head back on her shoulder, turning his head to meet her lips with his.

"I love you, ma," he smiled against her and she had butterflies on her stomach once again, this moment somehow feeling private and intimate despite the amount of people on the beach with them.

"I love your hair and your eyes. I love your nose, your lips, your jaw," she gently kissed his jaw making his eyes flutter close as he placed his hands on her forearms that were still around his torso, "I love your neck and shoulders and arms. And your hands, god your hands."

He chuckled, opening his eyes to look at her with a love-filled gaze, "You're really gassing me up here."

"I'm not done," she quipped making him smile once again, "I love your chest and your back. I love your waist," she squeezed his sides lightly making him let out a heavy breath, "And your hips. Your thighs are better than mine."

"Not true," he mumbled, his gaze fixated on her face that was illuminated by the sun that was slowly falling closer to the horizon.

"Very true," she retorted making him shake his head, "I never knew I could love a person's legs but here we are. Fuck your feet though. I will never love anyone's feet."

"That's so rude," he frowned at her with a fake pout making her roll her eyes with a smile, "I love your feet."

"That's because your fucking weird," she teased him as she squeezed his waist again making his eye flutter closed.

"I like it when you do that," he whispered, his hard demeanour completely disappearing when it was just the two of them.

"This?" she asked before gripping his waist gently once more and he hummed in response as she bit her lip, "Well we are in public so maybe we'll wait till we're back at yours before you start humping the air."

He whined out of aggravation, opening his eyes to look up at her again, "But it feels nice."

He pouted at her once again and she shook her head, placing another kiss on his lips before saying, "It feels nice because you're horny. I can see you getting hard, baby. I'm not doing it again."

He pursed his lips, grabbing his towel which was behind his back and pulling it over his lap making her giggle.

"I wanna go home now," Chris rolled his eyes and she chuckled at him once again. She decided to tease him a little bit now that the towel was over his lap and she ran her fingertips softly along his waist.

"You're gonna have to wait," she said softly before placing a kiss on his jaw and gripping his waist once again, eliciting a groan from him as he slid down further.

"Fuck you," he frowned up at her and she gave him a sly smirk, kissing his lips gently before looking into his blue eyes being illuminated by the sun.

"Yeah, I know you want to," she giggled before looking up, seeing his brothers approaching them with ice creams in hand, "Pull yourself together. They're back."

[fatum679]

what do you think about the latest trailer? it made me afraid my beloved ship helaemond is gonna sink 😭

Hello! I was sure that we wouldn't be shown any major spoilers. I read a spoiler that in the second season there will be flashback with Aemma Arryn, I don’t know why they are needed? Who cares? But we do have two shots of her in the trailer.

About Helaemond, we have a shot of Aemond on a girl's lap crying, I don't think he would show his tears to a prostitute or I also doubt that Aemond will cry in front of a woman (Alys) he sees for the first time in his life. There must be a strong emotional connection for this to happen.

In addition, Aemond will only meet Alys in season 3; in the second, Daemon will interact with her.

The girl in the frame could be Alicent (but why is Aemond naked?) or Helaena.

Helaena wears blue dresses and this dress is similar to her style from episode 9. This could be a flashback of Aemond and Helaena or it could be a scene after b&c or after battle at rook's rest.

Aemond is not the kind of person who would show weakness in front of a person with whom he has no intimacy and we were shown many helaemond moments in the first season and he was not afraid to cry and says in front of Helaena that Aegon and nephews is bullying him, but in front of others he did not show his tears even when his eye was cut out.

The ring... lol... but why not?😂

Helaena wears a rings on her middle finger in season 2 😂

I don't know. I'll just wait for the second season and believe 🕷💎

The writers openly talk about and confirm only the relationship between Alicent and Rhaenyra (lmao)

&

I read a theory that this is not Aemma, but that it is Helaena's double.

Firstly, Aemond is no longer 13 years old for Aegon to drag him into a brothel.

Secondly, Aemond is not the kind of person who would voluntarily go to a brothel. He made it clear in the first season that he is not interested in prostitutes and that is what makes him different from Aegon.

So I don't think he's crying on the lap of Helaena's double. I also don't think he's with Mysaria. It is so stupid. Aemond doesn't know her, he won't be so vulnerable in front of her and show his weakness. Aemond won't tell her his secrets! This will be very fucking stupid!

! And the most important thing ! The girl in the picture doesn't have dark hair! It's the dress and the shadow.

The writers won't miss out on a script goldmine like Helaemond.

[renecdote]

18. walking home and/or "holding their hands in general" from the prompts if they inspire something!

this got soo sappy and I am not sorry about it lmao

[Read on AO3]

Buck doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of kissing Eddie. He’s only been doing it for three weeks, but it’s already his new favourite activity, and every time he starts, he never wants to stop.

“We should stop,” Eddie tries, but it’s not very convincing when he sucks on Buck’s bottom lip less than a second later, his hand rucking up Buck’s shirt to find a home against his skin.

It’s been a while since Buck made out with anyone in a car in a darkened parking garage. At least four years. Maybe more. How long ago did Ali break up with him anyway? It all feels so blurry now. He thinks that has less to do with the passage of time, though, and more to do with the way that a lot of things feel blurry when Eddie is kissing him like this. Like Buck isn’t the only one who never wants to stop.

He thinks he makes a sound of agreement—they really should stop, if only because the front of the car is the least ideal part of a car to make out with someone in. It’s not like either of them meant for one goodnight kiss to turn into too many to count. Buck’s body is probably going to hate him in the morning for the way he’s twisted in his seat, but that is tomorrow Buck’s problem. Tonight Buck doesn’t care about anything except now, Eddie, the slide of their lips together, the heat coiling in his stomach.

The sudden honk of the truck’s horn makes him jump, startling so badly he bangs his head on the roof.

“Fuck,” Eddie gasps beside him. “Shit, sorry, my elbow—”

They stare at each other for a beat, two beats, and then they’re both laughing.

“Okay,” Buck says, trying futilely to straighten the mess that Eddie has made of his clothes. “Okay, I think that’s the universe telling us we’re not teenagers anymore.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, but it’s a distinctly amused kind of eye rolling. “Still with the universe and it’s signs, huh?”

“It’s the universe, Eds, it’s not like it’s goes anywhere.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Eddie says, but he says it like he really means I love you. It makes an altogether different kind of heat coil in Buck’s stomach, an almost-butterflies feeling that seems ridiculous considering they’re already dating. And maybe they haven’t said those three little words yet, but. It’s not like he doesn’t know. Not like he hasn’t known for a while, even if it all still feels too fragile to say aloud.

Eddie tips his chin up and leans over, more carefully this time, to give him one last quick kiss.

“Thank you,” he says, smiling the same soft smile he’s been gazing at Buck with all night. “Tonight was fun.”

Dinner, he probably means.  The rest of it too.

“You’re not gonna walk me to my door?” Buck asks, and it’s meant to be a joke, it really is, but there’s a little part of him that thinks please. Please love me the way I’ve always wanted to be loved.

“I’m not coming in,” Eddie warns him, tone almost stern. He said the same thing last time, and the time before that, and still ended up on the other side of Buck’s apartment door. “I mean it, Buck, I told Pepa she’d only have to look after Chris until ten.”

“I know,” Buck assures him. “I was kidding, Eds.”

“I know.”

But he’s opening his door and getting out, slamming it shut behind him. Buck grins and hurries to follow.

When the elevator doors slide closed on them, Eddie reaches out and tangles their fingers together, squeezing gently for no apparent reason other than that he can. It makes Buck’s heart stutter, warmth wriggling in his chest, giddy in a way he hasn’t been since Abby. Maybe even with Abby. She was so rarely the first one to reach out, unless she was reaching for his belt. It didn’t bother him at the time; he figured she just wasn’t a physically affectionate person. Then he saw her with her fiancé and realised she just didn’t want to be affection with him.

Eddie wants to be affectionate with him. Is affectionate with him. He plays with Buck’s hair while they watch TV, and comes up behind him in the kitchen to wrap sleepy arms around him in the morning, and holds his hand just because. Kisses him just because. It’s only been three weeks, but Buck already finds himself turning his head at the door and trusting that Eddie’s lips are there to say goodbye, or hello, or I missed you.

The elevator dings, spitting them out onto the fourth floor, but Eddie doesn’t let go of his hand. It makes Buck wish that the walk to his apartment was longer. A thousand feet instead of the two dozen it is down the hallway and around the corner. He finds himself taking slower steps, but can’t be sure whether he’s setting the pace or just following Eddie’s lead.

The hallway around them is empty. Will probably stay empty at this hour. If Buck was a stronger man, he might be able to resist a temptation like that, but Eddie Diaz has always been his greatest weakness. They reach his door, but he doesn’t open it. Doesn’t even take out his keys. He just tugs Eddie closer and kisses him, unhurried. Eddie makes a sound in the back of his throat, not quite a protest, and his hands slide over Buck’s hips, his ass, holding them together even as he’s mumbling, “I really should—I can’t stay—,” between kisses. Buck hums, not quite agreement, and nips at his jaw. Eddie groans, a broken kind of sound, and finally breaks away long enough to say, “Pack a bag.”

Buck leans back, confused. “What?”

“A bag,” Eddie repeats, and he’s pulling Buck’s keys out of his pocket to reach around and unlock the door himself. “Pyjamas, toothbrush—what else do you need? You’ve still got clothes at my place.”

The door swings open behind him and Buck stumbles backwards, unbalanced, caught only by the arm his partner still has around his waist.

“Are you kidnapping me?” he asks, mostly on autopilot. Moving on autopilot too—stairs, closet, bathroom, where the fuck did he leave his work bag?—since the larger part of his brain is still caught up in Eddie’s lips, Eddie’s hands, the delicious burn of Eddie’s stubble against his skin.

“Yes,” Eddie answers, no hesitation. “Don’t forget to grab your iPad for therapy in the morning.”

The iPad goes into the bag.

“Maddie won’t pay the random,” Buck tells him, picking through the basket of clean laundry on the table for an LAFD shirt to toss in as well.

Eddie shrugs. “Bobby might.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“Well,” slinging the bag over his shoulder with one hand, reaching out with the other for Buck’s hand, “I guess I’ll just have to keep you.”

Buck can feel his cheeks flushing pink, a smile making them ache. It’s a joke, he knows it’s a joke, but.

“You’re gonna keep me, huh?”

Eddie uses their joined hands to tug him close enough to kiss, short and sweet but somehow more dizzying than anything else tonight.

“I’m gonna do a lot of things with you,” he promises, and it’s so soft that Buck’s mind skips right over the dozen innuendos he could find in that sentence and goes straight to forever. Marriage, kids, a house with a nice yard and a dog, waking up every morning with his best friend in his arms.

“Yeah?” he somehow says, only a little breathless, forever still unfolding behind his eyes.

“Yeah,” Eddie echoes, smiling that same soft smile he’s been wearing all night. The kind of smile Buck always thought he would see looking across the altar at his wedding. “I think I’ll start by taking you home.”

Buck’s heart stumbles a little, losing its rhythm and jumping ahead to get it back. His mouth feels crowded with all the things it feels too early to say. They’ve only been together for three weeks, he has to keep reminding himself, even if it does already feel like a lifetime.

“Well then,” he finally manages, “what are you waiting for?”

Eddie grins, and holds them there a moment longer for another bone-melting kiss, Buck’s fingers curling in his jacket, touching at every point they can. And then he leads Buck out of the apartment, back down to the truck waiting in the parking garage, and, hand in hand the whole drive, takes him home.

[bl00dlight]

Helaemond antis gotta be some of the most boring bitches

All they do is complain and gaslight us all into think we are delusional for picking up what the actors legit did themselves

Hmmmmmmmmmmm yessss I think alot of the antis come down to two camps;

-book purist reddit dudes

-self inserter girlies who love alysmond/helaegon

Prove me wrong.

Yea yea yea there are other bullshit excuses people might give. And sure they may be valid. But both Alys x Aemond and Helaena x Aegon are SIGNIFICANTLY more like... morally questionable. Oh okay, so we got the 40-400 year old witch who may or may not be a master manipulator fucking an 17-18 year old who is criminally insane and possibly has taken her as a sex slave after Ethnically cleansing her entire House, whom he also abandons and then decides to come back for as an afterthought...

And we got the martial rape/neglect poster Child Aegon who rapes young serving girls paired with the deeply traumatised Helaena.

And yet the idea of the doomed bpd Aemond x his prophetic neurodivergent sister where they find a shared understanding of being deeply neglected and then she watches him descend into darkness despite the fact he still ultimately loves and care for her - so basically.... Padame and ANAKIN LMAOOO or half the books popular on tik tok.

That is the one which is egregious? The only ship which has been even acknowledged by the actors to have weight in the theory that Helaena and Aemond share a bond? I mean like the show itself validates us, young aemond wishing he was betrothed to her, defending Helaena, the actors implementing the character relationships, the fact Aemond is the one to even clock Helaena is a dragon dreamer - the entire balcony scene.... also remember all those pre show leaks that discussed Aemond x Helaena x Aegon being in a Aemon x Naerys x Aegon parallel and uhhh young Aemond leaks about him supposedly being in love with his sister on the character descriptions?

Like there is plenty there for people to grasp onto lmao.

I think people were really fucked off about the whole 'the kids were his' thing, but personally I just thought that was fun speculation. Fan theories are a staple in this world? Also personally I've seen very few Helaemonds who died on the hill without question the kids were his.

Helaemond is probably the least insane ship, espeically when you think about the fact people ship.... Luke and Aemond.... uhhhh. Also... Aegon and Aemond. Idk about yall, I don't really think I've ever seen a moment between Aemond where he reasonably loved either Aegon or Luke. But he did move in front of Helaena when Rhaneys attacked the dragonpit... so... and he also did say as a kid he lowkey would marry her. And then also begged her to come with him to Harrenhal. So clearly there is uhhh some connection.

People also act as though the idea of Aemond and Helaena is so preposterous as if the entire show isn't about hypocrisy and external martial affairs.

They also act as though Targaryen siblings ain't constantly been getting into messy ass love triangles where they sucking or ATTEMPTING to suck and fuck one or both. Cough cough.

Visenya x Aegon x Rhaenys

Bittersteal x Sheira x Bloodraven

Aegon x Naerys x Aemon

And honourable mention to Baelon x Alyssa + this diva Viserra trying to suck and FUCK on Baelon???

So like.... not really so sure how it's such an outrageous concept.

Again most of the time the critiques of the ship aren't valid other than the fact that 'It isn't canon' - but it's like what the fuck constitutes as canon? And why does it only apply to Helaemond. No one cares that Rhaenyra x Alicent isn't canon. No one cares that Rhaenyra x Mysaria isn't canon. Daemon x Alys isn't canon AT ALL, like Daemon legit doesn't think twice about Alys. And Helaena and Aegon aren't canon either - they are just in a fucken marriage with each other to which the actors have stated they don't really love each other? So is it a canon romance? No. Are they married? Yes. But Rhaenyra and Laenor were married too, I don't see anyone shipping them.

I legit don't care who people ship. But it's always obvious it's a THEM thing when they haven't got any real points other than virtue signalling or just being hateful. Like I said, Helaemond is probably the least problematic logistically. And is not out of the question in world (as said by the actors and proof by canon have it be a theme amongst targ siblings). They mad cause they jealous, they mad cause it doesn't align with THEIR personal wants/desires etc.

For example you cant sit here and tell me Alys is a healthier choice for Aemond or Aegon a healthier choice for Helaena? At worst it's equal. So anyone who pretends to give a fuck is just like... annoying.

Which is a big factor. Many in this fandom are annoying as fuck. They are rude to actors, rude to other fans, hateful, and take it so seriously that it literally sucks the joy from it. Like seriously, it's not that fucken deep and people DO need to chill. I've seen fans on twitter get called BAD PEOPLE for shipping Helaena and Aemond??? Like that's crazy.

I'll sit here and admit I love toxic and messy ships cause it's interesting. I don't fucken like boring fluff. Go watch Bridgerton or whatever the fuck, HOTD is not for those ships. So it would be alot more fun if people would just admit to wanting to see some messy and fun shit instead of posturing morality over fictional magical dragon flying people.

The point is, people hate Helaemond because it has the most plausibility in the show to become a thing. And it did. People don't get that most Helaemonds don't really care nor did we expect a romance. We just wanted interaction with subtext... and uh.... we won. Hoes mad on tumblr cause they wanna self insert. Hoes mad on reddit cause they wanted a documentary instead of a prime time TV show.

But helaemond?

We won. Pay them no mind. We been out here doing it for helamond and they mad cause it worked.

Oop..

[sunnysideaeggs]

hi friends, welcome back to another episode of me complaining about the dragon show. this is a long post for a long episode, spoilers for s2e6 of hotd, and spoilers for fire and blood, since i will be discussing a bit of my theories about the ending. enjoy!

the lannisters as always serving. i love the armor, the red, the details, targaryens wish they had that drip.

lions? fighting? yes lord jason show us the budget

also i think it’s cute that lord lefford and his men have a little golden dandelion pin. i think the different ways westerosi people embrace their sigils is cute

why is the golden tooth’s lord so surprised to see lord jason being a show off? sir that’s your liege lord you must know how he is 😵‍💫

‘he dares summon me 🤬🤬🤬’ bitch you’re regent because you have fightfing ability. use it. i hate aemond ugh

‘i’m prince regent not a dog’ ✨ stop acting like a bitch then ✨

everyone in the council wishing aegon comes back home lol

larys’ hair looks unmatched today

alicent and dalton? 💀 this would be a great moment to remind the audience of how dalton is a rapist, a tyrant, a heathen and a criminal, and anyone that allies themselves with him is icky. but oh wait isn’t he a black ally?

i will not tolerate any more tyland slander. he’s my little finance bro and he must be respected

now this is a question. what position does alicent fill exactly? she’s not queen anymore and being queen mother of an adult king doesn’t grant her any more saying than anybody else

i would be more inclined to empathize with alicent’s loss of power if she had spent any morsel of her power actually saying or doing something. i don’t care about the loss of a ‘leveling voice’ in the council when she didn’t have any thoughts this season but ‘war bad, aegon bad, viserys good, peace good’

she’s in her FOMO era though. she wishes this was aegon instead. she should’ve employed this maternal energy in him. it would’ve served her better.

now this is another consequence of alicent’s character being so butchered it became a 50’s caricature of what a woman is. book alicent was such a powerhouse that no one would dare question her presence in the council. and she was evil af. that’s the alicent we deserved

i can’t stop thinking that the hand pin rhaenyra gave corlys is the same pin she stole from otto lmao

i fail to see how rhaenyra admitting she’s being held back by her council gives her power. they’re admitting she’s a puppet ruler. ew

rhae mentioning that the knight has noble blood first of all 😭 smallfolk don’t count. it’s unthinkable they would have the ability. she said no real person involved fr

‘the dragons are gods’ i thought we were well past that

if anything i watch every episode to see daemon being haunted for all his sins. truly what he deserves

(throwback to s1) also i find it interesting how in the show viserys cut himself with the throne when he sent away daemon, when the moment he cuts himself in the book is when he condemns vaemond and the silent five unfairly. the show trying to make his mistake be standing up to his entitled family instead of enabling his entitled family 💀

simon must be so done with daemon 😭

i wonder if caraxes has been having weird dreams too

daemon packing his shit and sleeping outside harrenhal in a tent jsjjsjsjs

alys like: ‘where my goodbye hug at? 🧐’

‘perhaps those who strive for (the crown) are the least suited to wear it’ preach.

but rhaenyra does strive for it, she can’t be five minutes reminding people of her crown duh. the only one who recognized the duty of the crown and the burden and duty it takes is egg and that is why i love him

i can’t with the fucking viserys glazing smh

alys my love why would you say ‘centuries’ when it comes to the tullys? they’ve been around for a century and a third, not more. i love the tullys but they haven’t been liege lords for centuries

once again condal proving he didn’t read the books

now if ser whatshisname dies trying to claim a dragon i will say he died a dragonrider’s death, therefore he was successful or whatever

poor steffon :( it’s cruel to give a knight a ceremony for his death and seasmoke was cruel to lure him just to burn him

why did they leave him there instead of idk throwing water? try to save him? smh

he died a dragonrider’s death tho

actually the dragonkeeper choosing to slice his throat instead of succumbing to his burns tells us throusands about what an actual honorable valyrian death is like. and it doesn’t have anything to do with burning

now i would like some more insight on the resentment it causes to know you have a noble father and he leaves you to your devices. imagine your dad being your boss but you can’t say anything :(

i still think it was so stupid of dyana to not run away from the city when she had the chance and the money. i know they kept it for slander purposes but still

since when do the peasants are choosers? they’re eating rats and bowls of brown, why are you complaining about fish?

aemond’s lover is a traaaaaiittoor lol

tell but not show. we haven’t seen any food or feast since the dinner back in s1. got did way better with the food

also giving the blacks’ storyline of feasting while the people starve to the greens has not gone unnoticed.

bitch what? rhaenyra is slapping lords? she’s fucking joffrey. this is beyond disgusting and disrespectful. fuck her i hate her so much and every episode gives me more reason to hate her even more

‘fear me 👹👹👹’ i will cheer when she dies chained

also she just hits her allies and speaks some bs, doesn’t explain herself, doesn’t create more plans, just fucks around and fucks off. ew

i know mysaria is a lickspittle because no one else would say rhaenyra ‘raised in feasts and lazyness’ targaryen becomes being with a sword lol

aemond speaks the truth but fails to endorse it. it is in the crown’s best interest to make sure the smallfolk curse the blacks all the more, instead of leaving them to think whatever. when there’s a siege you hate the one keeping the siege not the ones suffering with you

aemond is so easily blindsided (pun intended). he is so quick to shut down the flatterers in the council but doesn’t realize he’s fucking the worse traitor of them all lol

yay egg is awake! (of course orwyle will prioritize 👑 the king 👑 instead of dealing with a simple prince duh)

my baby is in pain :(

aemond targaryen i will see you in the seven hells if i don’t sent you there myself. keep your hands away from him you leech. i’m on daemon’s side for this one

why would the maesters leave him alone? he’s the king king, he can command them to not leave the room and aemond can’t overrule him

rhaena being sidelined and forced into a storyline that isn’t hers (diminishing her importance and the last dragonrider until daenerys) will not be forgotten.

we get to see daemnyra’s kids’ dragons but not helaegon’s kids’ dragons? a crime.

i would like to remind everybody that grrm himself said dragons are not nomads and they don’t go flying around just because. condal once again

rhae rhae showing she’s vizzy’s daughter because she threatens to cut tongues when she gets mad at the truth and can’t even give a reasonable explanation for why. at least joffrey cut tongues when people were singing slander and not just trying to be useful

fucking tyrant.

while rhaenyra cries about not being respected as a ruler jace actually makes plans to win the war. she’s not respected because she’s fucking useless not because she’s a woman.

ah yes, apples grown in the gardens of dragonstone. as if the reach isn’t team green. lmao

also it’s so funny that no one ever through about buying more food exported from the reach (coast clear and no need for sea routes). the writing is so stupid bruh

all he ever wanted was to hear someone was sorry about what happened to him :(i’m sorry egg, your mom is sorry)

now some sunnydumping: back in 2021 i got covid, i probably catched it from my mom. i was bedridden and with awful fever and pain, my mom did stay by my side and constantly apologized for me being sick. of course it wasn’t her fault but she still felt bad. alicent apologizing to her burned son speaks to me so much

alicent was around 14 when her mom died, gwayne is older than that and was in tourneys during the first ep. did the writers forgot? why would they say ‘oh you were 8 when mom died’ this man fought daemon 💀

THEY’RE AGING DAERON? i expected it but i’m still disappointed

the horses are so cute with their armor aw

rhaenyra didn’t fucking knew about mysaria’s plan 💀 the smallfolk are right to thank her though. she might be the cause there’s a blockade but it’s not logical the crown hasn’t done anything about it

‘we must leave now’ no tf they don’t. helaena and alicent should stay right there instead of going to the streets. most of the smallfolk is deeply religious and wouldn’t dare to desecrate a sept. what are they, blackwoods?

and the narrative backs me up. the people were outside the sept, but didn’t actually enter and instead just conveniently went after the queens when they exited the sept. they should’ve stayed.

the smallfolk throwing food at them 💀 well damn that’s why you’re starving if you’re throwing good food away

i’ll miss leon stermont ngl. he was funny.

eeeegggg :((( his little tear while reaching for the milk? i’m crying. also give tom his emmy rn

aegon wanted his medicine and sleep but larys instead gave him his lore. poor baby :(

matthew needham the actor you are

i love love love larys and aegon together. the two best actors of the show on scene, their microexpressions, their shared disability and the ruthlessness it brews. this is the most vulnerable larys we’ve ever had and i am so mesmerized by them

new theory: i am a ‘aegon poisoned himself’ truther, and now i am of the mind that larys may help him, and poison his king following his orders (jesus and judas who). after that, he chooses death because what else can he do. he fulfilled his purpose and he served his king.

btw larys’ purpose to me is the old gods grand conspiracy. he’s advancing stuff so that the events of asoiaf can happen. he’s but a piece in a board.

he also may poison aegon without aegon knowing but thinking he’s doing it out of kindness. he doesn’t want the boy he grew to be fond of to be stripped of his power, life and dignity. better to die a king.

i hope we can get past all that dan schneider shit from s1e9 and we get to the real deal of larys’ motivations now. power and chaos, chaos and power. chaos is a ladder after all :)✨

daemon seeing viserys mourning 😭 he’s just in a really bad mushroom trip

where is elmo tully? this is muppet erasure

seasmoooookke i’m mad at you

still go get your rider boy

???? no claiming scene ???? 🤨

also we probably could’ve a) seasmoke claiming scene and b) sunfyre recovering scene instead of steffon dying trying to claim seasmoke and caraxes screaming in the background with alys and daemon, better use of cgi

rhaenyra’s problem is that she can’t fathom that not kissing the floor she walks on and still being loyal to her can coexist. no girl jace is your biggest ally he doesn’t doubt you he just sees you need help. smh

another thing i dislike is how they paint rhaenyra to be this universally beloved queen and the poor underdog fighting against the world at the same time. pick a side hbo

here we have grrm’s bad maths: 2/3 of the houses sided with the blacks, the blacks have thrice the dragons the greens have. but still the greens won (by virtue of aegon outliving and killing rhaenyra). how was that? the greens are the underdogs and the blacks have the numbers advantage

jace literally wakes up and starts thinking about ways to help his mother. but he says ‘ayo maybe you should check on your husband and ask him for help’ and then his mother cries and makes a fit because apparently he’s doubting her. narcissistic mom where

because apparently women need to be raped to be sympathetic? can’t mysaria be a sex worker who just so happened to want power and catch daemon’s attention? why does she need to be abused by her father? and tell her backstory to a targaryen of all things. she won’t ever understand how horrible that is.

mysaria being a ripoff of varys’ backstory 🧐

bruuuh i actually don’t think rhaenyra and mysaria are a good thing. power dynamics, especially with mysaria being a former sex worker and a sa victim, a daemon victim and at some point rhaenyra’s prisoner. can’t mysaria be a good employee without having to please her boss sexually? can rhaenyra respect one of her employees without fucking them? it seems not.

this episode was long aaaaaaffff and i think the scene with rhaenyra and mysaria could’ve been cut completely. mysaria giving her lore just doesn’t hit as hard when larys gave his piece, the make out scene is just fanservice and the ‘oh no’ ending could’ve been just alyn claiming seasmoke and pulling a dany

7/10 solely because of my greenies and alys.

[littleandless]

SEASON 2 EPISODE 7 THOUGHTS

i wonder how rhaenyra will discover that addam is corlys’s son. because there’s no way that can stay a secret, right? either corlys himself will make it known when he asks her to legitimize him or mysaria (if she knows—which i assume she does or will soon). i understand why addam didn’t just tell her outright, even if it would have been easier in some ways. corlys is still his liege lord before anything else and airing out his dirty laundry probably wouldn’t get him a pat on the back from papa either.

NEW TULLY LORD!!!! oscar and his men outnumber daemon, so he can afford to get a bit sassy. it’s a shame about willem though. oh well! i knew he was toast as soon as he started pleading with daemon to rescue him…he doesn’t give a fuck my boy😭 plus all the war crimes

more visions of viserys. i didn’t find this one very compelling, seeing as it’s just “i never wanted to be king boo hoo. why do you want this shit so bad?” when it is all so very obvious. and no alys????? i better see at least 10 minutes of screen time from her in the next episode.

we finally got an emotional outburst from jacaerys! thank the gods. his mother royally fucked him over by making him bastard-born and now (despite it being necessary) weakens his only claim to legitimacy. he has every right to be upset. as aegon2 once said: “everybody knows.” he loves his mother and is loyal to her, but he can’t quite cope with the danger she’s put him in. and she could never fully appreciate what it means for her sons, even if she does hear the insults. she can’t bolster her own claim without weakening his. poor jace, luke, & joffrey. they were truly doomed from the start. my sweet boys :(

we finally had a proper gathering of potential dragonriders and not just one measly person at a time. that’s good. i don’t like that they all had blonde hair, though. you’re telling me all the other bastards got white hair but not rhaenyra’s heirs? the blood of the dragon is just that strong? jacey is so doomed by the narrative.

also…hugh son of saera????? i was kind of hoping he’d just say her name but i guess we’re being coy about it. it’s a fun easter egg i suppose but 1. it reaffirms the targaryen blood purity BS they were just questioning two seconds ago and 2. poor saera not only had a shit dad that shamed her but also a failson who’s embarrassed of his rich sexy princess mother #justiceforsaera

alicent deciding to fuck off into the woods was the right decision. it’s probably the last moment of peace she’ll ever have. so hey, why not run away and go for a swim, take in the fresh air, ride a horse, and dream of disappearing forever? i said it before, but her part in this power struggle is basically over. now all she can do is wait.

am i wrong or did aemond send his brother’s bffs to the wall? i can’t remember their names and i don’t care to look it up, but it seems the most likely.

larys wants aegon to recover so bad lmao. i know he will eventually, but still. give it a rest bro i doubt he is as charmed by your camaraderie as you think he is…especially since you’re making him speedrun these physical therapy sessions! i’m surprised he’s still bothering with these people. he also basically fucks off in f&b and then reappears later. i wonder if that’s going to happen in the show or if he’s here to stay.

alrighty. the scales have tipped in rhaenyra’s favor. now she has seven dragons: syrax, vermax, moondancer, seasmoke, vermithor, silverwing, and caraxes (kind of). sheepstealer hasn’t been seen in the show yet, but since rhaena will probably claim him we can tentatively add his name to the roster. in f&b the blacks also had tyraxes, who i believe was shown last episode but is obviously still a baby. team green has vhagar and now tessarion. dreamfyre as well, even though i don’t believe she’s been shown before. i assume they’ll have to now unless the showrunners want to make the balance very dramatically skewed. and princess jaehaera has morghul but he also hasn’t been shown, and in f&b he was never even ridden. sunfyre is dead i think? so yeah, wow. sky lizards abound.

can’t wait for more! i’m sad we only have one more episode of this season. but hey, at least george said the writers are meeting up soon for season 3. hopefully we’ll only wait one year instead of 2😆

[lizzie-queenofmeigas]

Show alisaint and Rhaenyra sucks. Glad that people finally understand that

I see people compare them both to cercei and please don’t do my girl cercei dirty like that she would destroy both of them. If Rhaenyra or alicent in the show were anything like cercei the dance would be over in a day.

Show!Rhaenyra has been passive since the time jump. In the book she feeds vaemond’s corpse to her dragon when he dares to insult her sons, in the show she literally stands there 😶🥹 and daemon’s the one to defend her kids. The fact that she just allowed this man to insult her kids and herself like that in front of the entire court book Rhaenyra would neverrrr

Also seems like she genuinely doesn’t even want the throne (daemon even tells it to alys) she has 0 political ambitions so at this point just give it to the greens lmao what’s the point??? She doesn’t even want to be queen apparently because woman in Ryan’s fanfic can’t have ambition

And apparently she resents daemon after asking him to marry her because she needed him girlllll

And alisaint’s no better. I loved alicent in the book she slayed. Loved her kids and didn’t give a fuck about any of TB. Girl was ambitious af and I respect that. Alicent beefing with kid Rhaenyra is hilarious girl knew what she wanted from day 1. She’s like a more evolved margaery tyrell. Also making viserys only care about Rhaenyra is stupid. Alicent had a lot of power in the book because she was loved by viserys. Having viserys only love Rhaenyra and her just choosing for some reason to not intervene when Otto is named hand again in ep 7 and stay away from kl make her look stupid. In the book alicent had a lot of influence over viserys and the story works a lot better that way

Where’s the woman that fed a man to her dragon? Where’s the woman who said “I will have my crown or his head?” Where’s the woman that wished Rhaenyra died in childbirth and wanted to bathe in the blood of b&c ???? Alicent and Rhaenyra are part of a book called “dangerous women” and I have to laugh at how the show has completely ruined them.

It's benevolent misogyny.

And both GOT and HotD have this view that the ones who don't want it are the ones who should have it. That's not true, and ambition is not a dirty word.

[atopvisenyashill]

Hiiiii it’s @martelldragon I ask from my main

BUT, on the Saera/Jaehaerys thing, IM GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE because whenever this conversation about there being SA or at least some weirdness from Jaehaerys towards Saera, a lot of people will brush it off as “you’re being weird, trying to find something sinister where there isn’t anything” when the subtext is there!!! And I also think HOTD sort of replaced Any potential weirdness there was between Ali/Jae when she was reading to him by having her reading to Viserys -> him marrying her -> him maritally r*ping her in the show.

I feel like this sort of acknowledges that there was something not right about Jae and Saera’s relationship but the show sort of gave the Alicent angle years later when Jaehaerys was being taken care of her while dying and any potential creeping on her to her reading to and taking care of Viserys and him being the one to creep/on eventually marry her.

I also think Viserys calling her Aemma in one of the episodes was definitely at least a reference maybe to the old man she took care of in the book mistaking her for Saera.

Anyway seeing you acknowledge the Jaehaerys/Saera relationship instead of ignoring it and acting like everyone who sees something odd there is “reading too much into it” is just so refreshing and sorry if this doesn’t make sense I kind of started rambling lmao

Oh yeah I feel like I get at least one anon every few weeks since I posted it that is just like "you're reading too much into this" without any explanation and it's like...okay well I disagree lmao. I think especially the people who are like "you think Saera is a girlboss but she's actually a psycho" like...WHOMST is "you" in this situation because it's not me! I think Saera was an intelligent, bright young girl who lived a simultaneously spoiled and lonely youth. I think her worst inclinations were often "rewarded" in the very typical "child can't get attention so they settle for negative attention by acting out" type behavior, which made her behavior worse. I think she exhibits some rather disturbing sexual proclivities and children generally don't land on those types of behaviors on their own; they mimic the behavior, good or bad, that they see. Regardless of what happened, I think it's very clear that Saera is mimicking sexually abusive behavior because she has either witnessed or experienced first hand sexual abuse happening. Now who is the likeliest culprit for that hmmm...

I do think the Joffrey comparisons or even the Rhaenyra comparisons crack me up the most though. Like...oh so you think these three children who really obviously experienced/witnessed sexual abuse and proceeded to act out and enact that sexual violence on others are all very similar little psychopaths? Wow tell me more!

But re: the Alicent of it all. I would agree, i think they combine her relationships with Viserys and Jaehaerys in the show, as well as combining her character with Aemma's (and clearly taking inspiration from Dany and Sansa as characters as well). Viserys is not noted to be decaying to death in the books nor is he particularly old when he dies; in fact, it seems implied he's still fairly young looking and handsome when they marry. Which isn't to say that it's still not tacky at best for him to have an affair with a 17 year old and then marry her when she's 18; it's just like, the show takes away that very gray area that George likes to play with where a teenage girl will marry a handsome, fit 25-35 year old and is maybe not too freaked out by it only to realize there is an ocean of difference between her and that man. Which like, fine, I think they still do a good job of interogating that aspect of F&B and Westerosi culture by delving into with Daemyra ("a girl child you bounced on your knee" is CRAZYYYYY i fucking love that line so fucking much especially because we get that scene where Alys is crying over Daemon and Daemon is a bit playful with her - she for sure judges him for his relationship with Rhaenyra but she also can't help but be fond of him, and I think that really displays the sort of dynamic George is going for with this specific sort of sexual abuse. Not dissimilar imo from like, Sansa remarking on how Tyrion was kind to her and the sort of lasting fondness she has for both him and Sandor - they are doing real damage to those girls but at the same time, the love and fondness is there and it matters to that girl regardless!). I do miss the kind of loving-but-weird beginning to her relationship with Viserys though; aging her down and making Paddy look so old and fucked up makes sense when you're trying to drive home the point to a casual audience that is just. so incredibly monumentally slow on the uptake. But Also imo starting it off this way really cuts a lot of that complexity of how damaging The Institution Of Marriage Is, when Alicent becomes an unwilling victim instead of a hopeful bride.

HOWEVER. The fact that her relationship with him can be airlifted out of the late 100's/early 101 right to the late 110s and onto Viserys sure does speak to how creepy her relationship with Jaehaerys is in canon! Doesn't say anything good about the reasons why she is sent into that man's room to read to him! And if he's calling her not his wife's name, not even his sister's name, but Saera's...hmm is all I'll say!

[gojuo]

https://www.tumblr.com/gojuo/717780379148386305?source=share

What about Aemond? Isn't he male and one of Rhaenyra's enemies why he is receiving a SPA treatment of his character, a treatment that not even the male characters of team black have lmao

Aemond may be on the Green side which means being an antagonist to Rhaenyra, but he is not her narrative foil. Aegon is Rhaenyra's foil and Aemond is Daemon's. And Daeron is the narrative foil to Aemond.

The Targtower siblings come in a package. It's Aegon and Helaena on one side being contrasted to each other: Aegon is a party animal vs. Helaena is a gentle and chaste lady; when B&C happens, Aegon turns his anger outwards towards the world and uses that anger to lash out vs. Helaena breaks into pieces, loses her mind and all of the trauma turns her into a hollow shell of her former joyful and outgoing self; Helaena commits suicide vs. Aegon lives on in spite of it all, etc.

For the other two, you aren't going to understand why Daeron is juxtaposed to Aemond if you don't know their book characters. Anyone who knows anything about F&B knows that Daeron was the single most likeable character in the entire Dance. And Aemond was a psychopath.

If I were to list book!Aemond's personality traits, I would say that he was a loud, brash, arrogant, cruel, impulsive, angry, contemptuous and scornful person. He's also ruthless, psychotic, blood-thirsty and more than a little unhinged. The Greens nearly break through Rhaenyra's forces and win the war but Aemond's recklessness and impatience fucks it all up. He murders every single member of House Strong because he had an issue with only one of them as well as doing it just because he felt like doing it. He takes Alys to bed as a spoil of war and he genocides the people of the Riverlands for funsies. He was a badass and unapologetically himself who was unafraid to speak his mind, no matter how harsh, but Aemond was no brooding, quiet and reserved type who held himself back like in the show. That's Daeron.

I call Daeron Aemond's narrative foil because he was the counterbalance to Aemond's intense personality. It is Daeron who is the quiet, reserved, pensive, and reputable man who is selflessly and completely devoted to the family. He commits/allows for heinous acts of war in Bitterbridge as retribution for what the people did to his nephew (which he regrets immensely), he fights to the bitter end to reunite with his mother and sister in King's Landing, he throws wine in Hugh's face when the man insinuates Aegon is dead, he is the favorite and most loved child of the four, etc.

In F&B, Aemond isn't particularly characterized as caring for his family much. He metaphorically rubs salt in Aegon’s wounds with his comment about how the Conqueror's Crown fits him better than it ever did Aegon, and his refusal to stick to Criston's orders and choose Alys over him and his family is what leads to the Fall of King's Landing and then snowballs into Butcher's Ball, Tumbleton, Bitterbridge, etc. If anything, book!Aemond seems to care about no one but himself — sans Alys when the time comes.

Daeron is courteous, honorable and the valiant and heroic knight of the story. He was The King Who Should Have Been (over Rhaenyra and Aegon). Near the end of the Dance, when Rhaenyra turns full psycho, it is Daeron who is still fighting the honorable fight and becomes the clear cut good guy protagonist of the narrative, trying to put an end to Queen Maegor With Teats who has turned full-on villain at this point in time.

And what happened in the show is that Daeron — the clear cut good guy of the story — has been merged together with the character of Aemond — the clear cut bad guy on the Greens' side.

The truth is that the hack known as Miguel Sapochnik was not going to include Daeron in the show. This is all but confirmed by his Season 2 outlines that were leaked a while back in which there was not a single mention of Daeron + Viserys saying "All of my family here," during the dinner scene in which there was no Daeron + Daemon saying "[The Greens'] three dragons," meaning no Daeron and Tessarion.

The fact that Sapochnik walked away (read: threw a hissy fit and basically got fired for his shitty S02 outlines) and then the second after that happened GRRM went on his blog to assure us fans that Daeron was in the show, they just didn't have the time to mention his existence at all in this entire season with not even 1 fucking line (bullshit) is the cherry on top. GRRM posted that blog entry on October 11th, and episode 9 — which is the very first episode which showed us Alicent's bloodline split and her four children and three grandchildren with a hastily thrown-in VFX at the obvious last minute — aired on October 16th. I suppose October was when Sapochnik got the boot lol.

So what happened was that Daeron's character was combined with Aemond's. What happens when two characters who are each other’s foils are being merged into one? Especially when one of them is a cartoon villain with little to no depth and the other is the classical hero archetype? You get the belief that the Aemond of the show has been whitewashed.

(Off topic, but personally, I don’t like calling what happened to show!Aemond “whitewashing”, because that insinuates there was a deliberate attempt to cover up Aemond’s more than unpleasant book personality by sugarcoating his canon actions — like how the show did with Rhaenyra — but that’s not what the show did. Showrunners and writers just gave Aemond Daeron’s book personality, and there is nothing sugarcoated or whitewashed about Daeron. He just is, objectively, the good guy.)

Now back to the topic: what happens when two narrative foils get merged into one? The character needs to become a foil to someone else. And this new Frankenstein-ish Aemond/Daeron mishmash became the foil to Aegon. Of course, Aemond will always be, no matter what changes about the show, the narrative foil to Daemon: they are second sons, they die to each other in an epic dragon battle, they are both the villains of their respective sides, their names are anagrams of each other, etc. However, in Season 1, it is not quite Daemon Aemond is being juxtaposed to. Not yet anyways, no. In Season 1, Aemond is being juxtaposed to Aegon.

That is why we got the cringe scene of “‘Tis I who studies the sword, ‘tis I who studies history, ‘tis I who studies philosophy,” or whatever the fuck he said. That is why we had Aemond join Criston in searching for Aegon when in F&B that didn’t happen (and stole Kingmaker Cole’s role in convincing Aegon of the crown but that’s a topic for another day). That’s why we got Aegon begging Aemond to just let him go and sail away, insinuating that Aemond was the better option to take the crown (when in F&B that was 1. literally not what happened during that scene at all and 2. one of Aegon’s biggest and most important character defining moments. And they ruined it all in favor of Aemond AAGGRGRHHHHHGG). Remember how I said Daeron was The King Who Should Have Been over both Rhaenyra and Aegon? They gave this trait to Aemond in order to contrast him to Aegon who never wanted to be king at all.

This Daeron-ification of Aemond now makes him “the better man” between him and his brother in the show, and that was done all to the detriment of Aegon's character. It’s also what led to the application of the Aegon IV/Naerys/Aemon-love triangle to the Aegon II/Helaena/Aemond-show dynamic. In the book, this never would've passed because Aemond is the worst of all four siblings, and Daeron was simply too young.

There is not a single character on House of the Dragon who has gone through the same amount of character assassination as Aegon has.

Now, all this doesn't mean that Aemond = Daeron in the show, it means that most of Daeron's characterization has been merged together with the character of Aemond. Because it was abundantly clear that Sapochnik was not going to include Daeron in the show. This is what might lead you to believe that Aemond has been whitewashed, when in fact the character is just a Frankenstein fusion of Daeron the Daring and Aemond One-Eye. Just like the Young Griff-Jon Snow/Daenerys/Cersei fiasco of GOT.

[flowerandblood]

Oh Hagi,

My heart is WITH YOU FOR EPISODE THREE. Just got done watching!! I look forward to your review and the absolute manic this will bring to the fandom!! 🫶🏻🤍🤣

Feel free to take a few days to have a full reset after seeing everything that goes on— I’m honestly going to have to do it, myself. LMAO.

I was half drunk when I watched it but there you have it, my SPOILER REVIEW under the cut:

I LOVED scenes in Harrenhal and Daemon's vision (him crying knowing that he left Rhaenyra alone with all this shit he had done???). Alys looks COOL and I can see already that the actress who plays her will do her justice (I hope for good writing for her too in the future).

I love Larys biting Aegon into not trusting anyone but him – it's so sneaky and well, Aegon thinks everyone hates him anyway, so obviously when he sees Aemond so fucking vulnerable in the brothel scene he used it to take back (in his mind) his advantage over him.

What hit me was the difference in his body (Aemond's) posture: from small baby in the episode 2, when he stood up he put this mask of a grown man again, saying "I don't give a shit, fuck this whore how many times you like" when we know that he does care, that in some way he cared about what she was able to give him: relief, relaxation, peace of mind, place to run to.

In my opinion Madame is a victim (objectiving + power imbalance) and an abuser (what this young boys really want doesn't matter – I don't speak about adult Aemond, but about him in the past and the next boy Aegon brought in this episode) in one person, what makes her (for me) next tragic, grey character in this world.

I don't know what I think about Alicent meeting Rhaenyra. We got great dialogues, but the scene it self felt...unreal to me. It's just too easy to get into King's Landing in my opinion. Daemon and Rhaenyra just put something on their hair and no one will notice anything. 😂

Anyway, I have to watch it once more with my hubby (he didn't see it). I didn't read opinion of others before writing it to just show my feelings about it, feel free to write to me with your own thoughts, just be kind. 💕

[aphrogeneias]

nine people i'd like to get to know

thank you, baby @strangerstilinski <3 loved the new questions!

what "old person" things do you do? go to bed early on (most) weekends, do newspaper crosswords religiously

last three books (or fics) you've read: ghosts by dolly alderton, the seven year slip by ashley poston and cover story by susan rigetti, i am currently reading talking at night by claire daverney

at a movie theater, which arm rest is yours? the left one, i keep my drink on the right one, but i don't think this counts much because most of the time i go to the movies, i go alone so? doesn't matter much where i put my arm? lmao

vintage or new? new because there's no good thrift shops in my area and the online ones usually charge very abusive prices for people who claim to care, but honestly i don't buy clothes a lot and when i do i wear until i can't anymore

favorite part of your daily routine: hanging out with my dog in the mornings

are you scared of the dark? no, have never been

marry/cuddle/sleep (like, actual sleeping): aly gave me the trio steve, canon!eddie and rockstar!eddie to choose from — i'll marry rockstar!eddie and be his sharon, cuddle steve and sleep with canon!eddie because that boy needs a good night of sleep

candles, essential oils or incense? incense! i'm always lighting incense, not just for cleasing purposes but i really love the smell too

favorite lyrics right now: not to bring the mood down but the depresso made me not really listen to a lot of music lately 😁

random fact/story you want to share about yourself: i have a really good memory for dreams and i can remember a lot dreams i had as a child, when i was around 4 or 5, in vivid detail, including some lucid dreams i had around that same age. i keep a dream journal just in case but most of the time i don't need it. if you ask me what i had for lunch yesterday, though? no fucking clue.

tagging: @intrepidacious @justsheerfilth1 @thornsnvultures @raccoonboywrites @onegirlmanytales @rebelfell @urhoneycombwitch @dataknife @paybacksawitch ❣️