#alicent is not a bad person

[prideprejudce]

it makes me laugh when I go on twitter or tiktok and see people complaining that alicent and rhaenyra were the only two posters to be released first because it’s just like….people still don’t want to acknowledge that this is THEIR story at the end of the day. everything in this plot revolves around these two women and their relationship with each other. everyone is simply a side player to their show

[dulcewrites]

I think the thing that shocks me the most about the discourse, if you can even call it that, around book Alicent vs show Alicent, is the idea that people think book Alicent had full autonomy over all her choices and she wasn’t a “victim” like show Alicent.

Now first, I put victim in quotations bc the way people who do not like her have almost bastardized that word. Alicent is a victim, and those things (rape, abuse, neglect) were done to her. That says everything about the men who did that do her and nothing about her. But people are hellbent on throwing Alicent, a woman in a violently patriarchal environment, being victimized back at people as if it is moral flaw of hers. Which is just terribly ironic bc the same folks who say Alicent “did it to herself” or “deserves what she is getting” also seem to think the crux of the story isn’t about generational trauma catching up with itself, how far people will go for power, or even how all girls and women are harmed - albeit to different degrees. But more the fact that Rhaenyra is the only woman to be harmed - and the only harm done is not getting the throne easily. Those same people wouldn’t be caught dead admitting that Rhaenyra is also a victim in the way they shit on Alicent for being. From the father who sets her up fail, to the baby daddy that’s been eyeing her since she was barely 18, to the uncle that grooms her. It takes away from the fantasy projected onto Rhaenyra if she too is surrounded by men that use her and she never escapes that.

Second, it’s funny how F&B gets heralded by some as this exploration of how history is skewed depending on who is telling it. But people can’t read between the lines (you honestly don’t even have to do that much work) with book Alicent. Showing 14 year old Alicent being preyed on, 16 year old Alicent being pregnant with her second child, and 18 year old Alicent being raped is somehow the show needlessly making Alicent a victim. But reading about a 13 year old bathing, dressing, and taking care of a king who mistakes her for the daughter he abused and neglected, and then that same girl, at 18, marrying another king that killed his previous child bride is just girl bossism on book Alicent’s part?

People hate conceptualizing the idea that (even book) Alicent is caught in patriarchal trappings bc to some that takes away from Rhaenyra’s plight…. Bc they can’t wrap their heads around several women *gasp* all going through hardships, and that ultimately people will respond to trauma differently depending on tools/knowledge they have at their disposal. Alicent neither being gleefully evil nor picking herself up by her bootstraps to somehow end years of patriarchal violence is not the neat box they want for her.

[pleader600]

Quiz time/Trying to figure out a nickname for Ralph

[nikosdaydreams]

Team Black I'm so sorry but can we stop going like "☝️🤓 erm acshually the blacks won because rhaenyra and daemons son became king L greens jumphaera nee ner nee ner" every time there's a discussion on Rhaenyra's or Aegon's deaths? Not only is it an exhausting and weird argument, but it's also simply not true.

Yes, a line carrying on is very important in ASOIAF, but at the end of the day, nobody won. As important as it is, it does not mean victory.

Rhaenyra still died thinking her son's death was next. As a mother, how could you feel victorious knowing your young child is most likely days from being killed? And that's without considering the fact that three of her children are already dead.

Aegon only made it six months after her before getting poisoned, having seen Sunfyre die, having mourned both his sons, his sister-wife and his brothers, having been burned and disabled by dragonfire.

Alicent began the war with four children (that she never asked for, mind you) and ended it with none, spending her final days in heartbreak and madness.

Aegon III was known for being extremely depressed throughout his reign. Who wouldn't be, after watching his mother be killed so violently and horribly? They say in his reign, Aegon did not even smile, and it was in his reign that dragons fell out of favour in the Targaryen dynasty.

Jaehaera was also known to be a sad, quiet child. She had watched as her twin brother's head was struck from his body. She had likely heard of her younger brother's violent and inhumane death at Bitterbridge. She hadn't been there when her mother could take it no more and jumped to her death. Her father was poisoned just when they thought he had won. She was then married off at 8 to the son of the man who had ordered the death of Jaehaerys, the son of the woman who had a massive hand in the death of Maelor, and by extension, her mother. Her grandmother, her last living relative, then tried to get her to kill her husband, after which she was placed under house (room?) arrest and she likely never saw her again. Even if she wasn't overwhelmed with grief and pain (which she definitely would be), she wasn't even queen for long enough to make much of a difference.

Rhaenyra and Daemon are dead. Aegon, Helaena, Aemond and Daeron are dead. Alicent is insane. Otto is dead. Jace, Luke and Joffrey are dead. Jaehaerys and Maelor are dead. Rhaenys is dead. Criston Cole is dead. Aegon III is scarred for life. Jaehaera is also scarred for life. Viserys II is nowhere to be found. Pretty much all of the dragons are dead.

The point I'm making is, nobody wins. All of them either died in fear and horror and fire and blood or survived in horrific mental and/or physical pain for the rest of their lives.

"There are no winners. Only survivors." - Haymitch Abernathy

[mrderofcr0ws]

AN INTRODUCTION TO:

“i need not see, you need not speak”

by mrderofcrows (me) on ao3

Helaena marries Aegon knowing one thing— he is incapable of closeness. Whether it is bearing his soul or sharing a bed, Aegon Targaryen refuses to let anyone close. For the first few years of their marriage — having been married in their late teen years — Helaena did not mind being at an arms-length. If anything, she preferred it.

Yet with age came uncompromising responsibility— and they had dodged their grandest task since their wedding night.

Children.

Pressed by the Small Council, Helaena is to produce a bloodline to strength Aegon’s claim. A claim he has refused that he has. A claim he does not want. A claim he will make no attempt to assure for himself.

Helaena and Aegon had never been as close as a married couple should be and under the expectations the Council has pressed upon them, whatever shreds of liking they feel for each other wear thinner and thinner each day.

Reconciliation is what Otto Hightower believes it will take for Aegon and Helaena to grow closer and bear children— but what if there is no relationship to reconcile at all?

[thisloveforyourmom]

i love azz. he could have been the rich pretty boy who's too good for violence or weak but smart and no. he's rich and pretty and smart and also the one in the misfits who most reliably will throw hands at the slightest provocation. sabnock learned from his scrappy days and apologized. asmodeus will toss you 40 feet as fast as look at you. his hands are rated E for everyone. he's a brawler. he's their little borzoi and baby he is hunting fucking wolves

[taniushka12]

Thinking again abt my silly barry/zane concept where zane yoinks him into the dark place to help him produce nightless night and barry is just having a fun kinda bizarre time in this pseudo dream nightmare with this stupid sexy pseudo alan until they sit down at the theater to watch the movie and he's like hey. Hey. What the actual Fuck is this

[abla-soso]

"Alicent is not obligated to love her terrible son"

Alicent stans, I'm no longer part of your club!!

Y'all are brainless abuse apologists, and I do not want to associate with you 😬

Damn, even the dumbass writers acknowledge how vindictivly cruel Alicent was to her own son in that scene. And you can't?? Not even the sinister background music gave you a hint??

I thought you wanted a complex and flawed Alicent? Why are you willing to justify abuse to whitewash her?

You're as bad as the TB stans you love to mock.

[paldogangsaan]

i just think that if you don't understand, respect or even like the source material, and if you can't put your feelings about said source material aside in order to tell a good story, you shouldn't be adapting it

[monards]

"It's so rare for R to be in her right mind for a spell. Should she really be wasting the precious little lucid time she has writing this?" "Don't worry. For a witch, this is the most important thing."

you mean to be telling me that it's an explicit point that rhinedottir is rarely in the proper state to do spells and write things like this. and of all the choices she had not to. she chooses to write it and places importance (read. it's established as the MOST IMPORTANT THING too.) in spending said-precious-time to write something with her friends commemorating andersdotter. hoyo i need youto stare me in the eyes and real the implications of rhinedottir expending what the other's are describing as her "precious little lucid time" to commemorate and make an ode to her dead friend HOYOPLEAS

[dulcewrites]

I’m actually curious to see if, and honestly hope, in s2 (whenever that may come out. Studios pay your writers and actors) we get some sort of callback or allusion to the rumor that Jacaerys tried to convert Cregan from the old gods to the faith of the seven.

Not because I care about the gods, outside the religious symbolism they bring. I only want to see people’s reactions. Namely the ones who act as if Alicent is the first woman to ever openly practice the faith. Because I have a feeling those same people will paint Jace possibly doing that as endearing versus Alicent who gets painted as a monster for her connection to the faith. The most we see Alicent doing a redecorating her home. Mind you, not even every room because you can clearly see the tacky tapestries in Viserys’ room in ep 8. Plus we see her praying and wearing religious iconography. Things that are not out of the ordinary… at all. She’s honestly your textbook highborn noble woman during that time. She was born and raised in Oldtown ffs. What is she supposed to follow if not the faith💀

She gets seen as this horrible zealot out to destroy the Targaryens through the faith, and to me that is just indicative on how badly people misinterpret Alicent’s feelings/motivations.

People can have their problems with the writing in hotd. I know there are certain things I have problems with myself. But when can we start being honest about how a lot of the conversations that are regurgitated and argued about day after day have less to do with the writing, and more to do with bad faith viewing. People are watching to see what they want to see, not what is actually in front of them.

Anyone with an objective view of Alicent would be able to tell how much she clings to the faith for salvation and hope. She does it to feel close to her mother, and very kindly/cautiously tries to help Rhaenyra with that too. She then reaffirms her faith after 1. She (imo justifiably) loses her shit at Driftmark and feels guilty about it, and 2. Has to marry her children to each other. Something she expresses thinking is immoral in the past. We even see her cut her hair, more than likely as a means of punishment and repentance. She’s miserable and has very few lifelines to hold onto.

How that gets twisted into her being a bigot because she doesn’t want to see dragons having orgies on her walls is beyond me.

Also the idea she is trying to bring down House Targaryen is nuts, but also laughable. Because between her and her actual Targaryen husband, Alicent is the one affirming her childrens’ Targaryen heritage. She makes sure Aemond knows he will get a dragon one day. She makes sure Aegon gets Blackfyre and his namesake’s crown. It seems like Aemond, and more than likely her other kids, know Valyrian. Ironically, the most anti targ (and frankly valid) sentiments we get are from Viserys. He speaks on the doom, fears what is to come, and how they never should have messed with dragons.

Alicent ‘let the people remember the ancient strength of House Targaryen’ Hightower is not the Baelor y’all want her to be. And if she was, it would’ve worked in her favor more. People tend to leave out the part where the most beloved Targaryens (by their people) were partly that because of their connection to the faith. Ya know the thing Targaryens also practice.

[sukibenders]

One of Rhaenyra's biggest opps (in HOTD) really was her own father. Because how are you going to proclaim your daughter as heir, only to then marry her best friend and have four kids, three sons, in an environment that is against women already as is but even more so with one sitting on the Iron Throne? And then, not only, do you not prepare her for anything political but scold her publicly, which isn't good for her image, and just....hardly do anything to aid her until you're on your last leg? And yet there are still fans saying he was a "great dad" and that he "did all he could". HA, I THINK NOT!

[rainedroptalks]

If we go by the “Paul is Richie’s uncle” headcanon (which I do cuz it’s good), then Richie and Alice definitely know each, right? Paul probably ended up babysitting the both of them a bunch when they were younger, so Alice is like Richie’s infinitely cooler older sister

[mrderofcr0ws]

“You needn’t be afraid of such things, Helaena.” Aegon whispers into her ear, “I will take care of you.”

— a snippet of chapter 3 from “i need not see, you need not speak” by mrderofcrows (me) on ao3

[blueopinions49]

Enneagram 5 Subtype Explained

The Social 5 "Totem"

The SO5 is the most assertive and ambitious of the enneagram 5. This subtype combines the desire of E5 (knowledge and understanding) and the social drive to create and share knowledge. They find great importance In the power of knowledge. Usually having a hyper fixed desire on what is true and logistically correct. John Lukovich describes them as having a "promethean calling" which I think is probably the most accurate of this subtype. Due to their desire to share their obtained knowledge.

Characters: Tim Drake, V , Petyr Baelish, Lara Croft, Jane, Sherlock Holmes, Elizabeth Shawe and Lady Jessica.

The Self Preservation 5 "Castle"

The SP 5 looks to fulfill their desire for knowledge and understanding through gaining insight on their specific interest. The 5 have this 9ish quality to them in the sense that the desire to create an environment that makes them comfortable. However unlike the 9 the sp5 does it in order to maxine efficiency in their interest. This subtype maybe the most social awkward of the enneagram. I personally would attribute curiosity as their defining characteristic. Usually this subtype looks like a typical 5 (quite and reserved) however they can also look like 9s due their introverted and constant narcotization.

Characters: Alice, Sister Sage, Walter White, L, Stanford Pines, Daria, Velma Dinkly and Bruce Banner

The Sexual 5 "Trust"

As the counter type of E5 this subtype looks to find a personal other through the sharing of interest and insight. This subtype subverts the usual conventions of the E5 by being focused on emotional desire. However they are stick an E5 so the struggle of them being a rejection type is still there. They go about fulfilling their core desire by finding a significant other that holds their exact same interest. Similar to the E4 they portray an image of somebody who us deeply interesting however unlike the E4 its not an image but a reality of the subjects interest and desires.

Characters: Simon Petrikov, Johan Liebert, Mr. Darcy, Marianne Sheridan, Sapphire ,Anais Watterson, Alan Wake, The Vampire Armand

Note: Bruce Banner is the character I am technically typing here not the The Hulk but I couldn't find cute Bruce Banner pics from the comics.

[goldenstarprincesses]

A. Kirkland- Pitbrow Woman, '81

In the last month or so, my interest in nyo!England has blossomed. Yet, I have long disliked the canon stylization of the character.

Ms. Alice Kirkland has never been one to shy away from physical labor or the harsh realties of her own people. Even at the height of her international power, it was rare that- unless directly requested by the monarch or prime minster- that she lived among the aristocrats for long periods of time. A stark difference between her and her French counterpart. While her rebellious days as a sailor were behind her, throughout the 1800s it was not uncommon to find her either in the mines, in a factory, or tending to her own country estate farm.

References and Inspirations bellow cut, Programs used: MS Paint and Krita

I could not have done any of this without these references.