#also i think i'm not so good writing aemond's point of view

[greeksorceress]

the thought and care he has put into methodically plan out this day is nothing short of laughable. the very same day he learned about rhaenyra’s departure to dragonstone, he started calculating how the reencounter would go.

aemond has spent years of his life now imagining his first meeting with his half-sister’s second son after the younger boy took his eye and his sanity with him. he has seen himself patiently waiting for the inevitable family reunion, holding his want for revenge long enough to have lucerys sleeping soundly in his bed and aemond attacking him in the middle of his dreams. 

fast and dirty and treacherous, just like lucerys himself acted upon him that night.

sometimes, the ire and resentment that threaten to rot him from the inside are enough for aemond to forget about any meticulous plan and just ride vhagar to dragonstone and burn it to the ground, like the madman lucerys has made of him. 

his favourite fantasy, however, doesn’t even revolve around him specifically, no. his most treasured daydream features his father caring for him like the parent he’s supposed to be and not the king who chooses favourites, demanding rhaenyra to handle what is owed to viserys’ second son. 

aemond is not stupid, though. he knows the last one of these confabulated possibilities is the most unlike to work for him, for nothing has ever been handed to him freely and effortlessly before. aegon has the name and the position to get him the things he wants, and also the things he doesn’t —but that aemond desperately needs—, and if it had been his older brother, he’s sure there would had been more repercussions for rhaenyra’s bastard. but he’s the second son, the spare, the one who isn’t granted neither love nor justice and just serves the purpose of standing in the shadows until he’s needed. 

still, he hopes.

 (hoping has never got him far, either.)

aemond knows the corridors and the secret passages of the red keep by heart. he has memorised the names and faces of the guards and their schedules and knows when both servants and royalty are supposed to be in bed. so, it’s easy to imagine lucerys trapped under his power and will if he were ever to come back to the castle. it’s always the first option with aemond, anyways, because who’s he if not a perfectionist —second sons don’t get the chance to be anything but—.

and then the day comes. helaena and aegon get married and lucerys comes back home to attend to the wedding. 

“i’m tired, mother. i shall see you in the morrow”, he tells her before departing himself from the festivity, noticing that rhaenyra’s children have already retired.

aemond has mapped out the exact path he’s following, years and years of submerging himself amongst the darkest corners of the keep finally paying off. he’s going to wait for the change of guard, and he knows everyone else will be wasted and high on wine and celebrations, having no intention of paying attention to any children that should be sleeping by now. the dagger he has chosen for this specific moment —he took two years to decide, but ended up electing the same that sliced through his own eye, because it seems that he’s a sentimentalist too— is safely secured under his belt.

he moves behind the tapestry dedicated to visenya that hides the almost invisible opening of the tunnel connected to the room that used to be jacaerys and lucerys’, the one currently inhabited by just the second boy, and only needs to take a swift look around the room to locate lucerys velaryon —strong, bastard, bastard, bastard— by the windowsill.

whatever aemond had planned for this moment dies before it’s even birthed. 

the moon shines on lucerys’ alabaster skin, illuminating his face and his doe eyes. he’s looking up toward the west wing of the keep, his cheeks resting atop his hands and his elbows firmly supporting his weight against the wooden rail of the windowsill. 

aemond knows what lucerys is contemplating, for his very own chambers are located in that exact wing. it shakes aemond to his core, because lucerys isn’t observing aemond’s territory with fear, keeping himself awake in a kind of a night shift in order to guard his own safety. no. lucerys is looking at aemond’s window, almost in a perfect diagonal line to this very room, with an expression that doesn’t take much for aemond to pinpoint and recognise.

lucerys’ eyes are wide and glassy, and his gaze is absolutely dreamy. he looks like he wants, like he longs, just like aemond does when viserys ignores him or mother and grandfather offer aegon something that aemond has been craving for longer, harder. he’s looking at the tower like a lover in one of the old poems that the maesters made them all learn, sighing and huffing as if his small heart cannot take the distance. like aemond looks at vhagar, or the iron throne from time to time. like aemond looked at viserys when he informed them that rhaenyra and her children were coming home. 

lucerys is glowing, there’s no better word for it, and aemond cannot stop looking. he laments his lost eye, and for the first time not because of fury. he wishes he had the full capacity on himself to completely soak in and burn this candid moment that lucerys is unaware he’s providing. he wants to remember how red lucerys’ lips are, and how many little dots complement his nose and cheeks. he wants to remember his sweet sighs, and the wind ruffling his curls. 

but more than anything, aemond wants to remember the look on his eyes. 

why lucerys would look at anything related to aemond with such longing escapes aemond’s mind, but it matters not. he’s looking at aemond like that, indirectly and secretly, but he’s doing that, and something hot and possessive blooms in his chest, as if he had been branded by scalding iron. he wants lucerys to always look at him like that, to look at aemond’s eye and face with the same need.

lucerys is more of an angel than he’s a human, like a vision materialised on earth to save aemond’s soul. aemond wants to consume him, wants to be saved and damned by that boy. 

the knife is heavy in his pocket, and it’s truly laughable how easily he has forgone his thirst for revenge and has replaced it with devotion. his resolve has crumbled, but he has forged his destiny. he knows it, he can feel it settling under his skin like an organism.

he doesn’t leave until lucerys is tucked under his covers and is finally succumbing to a deep slumber. he has been baptised, and he has a new god to worship —didn’t his own mother say that he was prone to obsession? what else could he do when he’s been provided with the representation of faith in flesh and bones?—.

aemond goes to sleep with a new resolution.

he wakes up when the sun is yet to be up, throat raw from screaming, the taste of the rain and the fire and the blood of a chase that was never meant to be heavy on his tongue. 

[faces-ofvenus]

hello love, I already wrote to you on the application and now I have another one, only I'm afraid to seem intrusive, but I would like to see the Damon/eymond/luceris and yegon reaction to pregnancy? If you can, I would be glad to read it, I love how you write and wish you inspiration 🤭❤️

I'll tell you, being pregnant with Aemond's child would be a bit suffocating to say the least, that's only because he would be overprotective in the extreme, you both grew up in this relationship, and honestly arranged or not you had a deep feeling for each other, so much so that when you heard the news that you would be parents it was unimaginable happiness but also uncontrollable fear.

Besides the extreme care you would be subjected to, usually you already had a royal guard at your feet every day, but all this would double if not triple, Aemond suffers at the thought of a life without you or your son, you are in his view the only ones who could love him completely, He knows that he is not the most loved person in Westeros, and he knows that he has enemies left and right, so using his son and wife as revenge would be a very effective method of making him suffer indeed.

Aemond is a rather thoughtful man if we may say, he thinks, thinks, and thinks and usually none of his thoughts are good, such as losing you, what kind of father he would be, and whether his son would have a dragon or be like... He, it almost drove him crazy but you are always there to calm his thoughts, you let his head in your belly, and just ask him to appreciate the now, and the moment you two are experiencing, you are carrying a child, your child, hugging your belly Aemond maybe doesn't cry, but he feels a mix of so many feelings, such good feelings.

He already treated you very well, now the treatment is a thousand times better, you don't have to ask, or think much, he will give you everything, even if you didn't even think you wanted it, he will fulfill all your wishes, even if to do so you have to leave flying with Vhagar at 4 in the morning, it doesn't matter, what matters is you and your baby, he doesn't care about having to keep awake all the nannies, midwives or anyone else who is in charge of your care, because if you don't sleep, he doesn't sleep and neither do they.

Okay, Aegon is the one that would deal worse with children, or with news of his pregnancy unlike Aemond, they were both scared, but Aegon would be the worst at dealing with it, he doesn't feel ready for it, actually I don't think Aegon would ever feel ready for it, he was always told that it was his duty, but he was never really taught how to raise a child, not that he paid much attention, the oldest prince told you that openly, he felt that he could talk about this insecurity that for so long he kept inside, he would say that he didn't feel he would be a good father, the insecurities, the feelings of abandonment as if all his life he was nothing more than a second option, Aegon didn't feel much love from his father, it was strange, he felt a shadow of his sister, even though he was the male child, and for his mother he didn't even know, he didn't even know if Alicent at some point wanted to have him as a son.

This conversation was sure to happen when he was drunk, it had been so long since you had seen him so drunk, since your marriage and since you had established a real relationship, but the relapse of knowing that you and he were about to have a child life, made your body and your stomach turn around, he felt so confused, when he walked into your shared room drunk, you didn't know exactly what to do, in other situations you would yell at him, for appearing drunk to the point that he couldn't stand up, but seeing how hard it was being for him to cope... Aegon didn't want to get too close to you, knowing your smell and honestly not wanting to bother you, you knew that, mainly because when it's just you two your bodies would never be apart, and he would be taking your hand gently, while telling you all your worries, you lay him down on the bed and gave him a kiss on his forehead, Aegon wanted to deny it all, but still he didn't protest, feeling your big belly resting on his body, it was. .. Good.

From then on Aegon still kept a certain distance from you, but even so he showed that he was worried about you, like when he didn't take his eyes off you even from a distance, or when you realized that there was always a person near you to fulfill your wishes at his command, and at night he would sleep near you and your belly, hugging your baby and you protective mind once you stopped him before sleeping, and told him that honestly he would be a great father, not like Viserys, that he would be more, and that you would never treat your son like anyone's shadow, because he was the result of your love, he didn't say anything but you knew how much he was listening to you, and how much he really might have slept with the idea of having a family with you, a complete family.

Aegon would care for you even more, still keeping his distance, but honestly he still wasn't one to touch your belly much beyond sleep or when the two of you lay down, he didn't know how to do that, only when you gave him the initiative, but he would want his baby to know that he was there, and first, and he would love the possibility of it being a girl.

Daemon must admit that he is not very attracted to the idea, being a father. He always wanted to imagine it would be the two of you, no kids or anything like that, just you guys at least so honestly you were on the back foot about telling him or not, you also never saw yourself clearly in the role of a mother, but your heart warmed to know that the child was Daemon's, it obviously didn't take long for him to find out, and you didn't try to hide it even if you didn't say the first word about it.

You had long talks and were frank with each other, he didn't want things to change, you knew it was also quite scary, you got so used to your life, it was hard to think of another one, but you wanted the baby, and Daemon wanted you, he didn't try to get too close to your belly, even though he was very protective, you weren't the clingy couple but you always appreciated and longed for each other's company, so Daemon trusted him more with your protection than anyone else, and even if he said he could take care of himself he only trusted him for that process, but little by little you started to make him feel more secure to leave, as you said the child didn't come to suffocate you.

And for a while it was like that, Daemon would kiss you and give you affection as he always did, but he avoided your belly with a worrying fear or trepidation, you once got a little tired of this, as you sat down on his side you just snuggled into his arms, but directed your hands to his belly, Daemon didn't have much reaction even though his son was moving, his heart beat a little strong, he certainly wasn't used to that feeling, so for the night you would stay awake as you normally did before the pregnancy, your hand never leaving your belly and yours never leaving his.

He would bring your son into your conversations more often, subtly, you would smile whenever he did this without thinking, your nights awake would return as normal, where your hand would not leave your belly, Daemon would just... You were really feeling it, regardless if at first you didn't want or think about children, maybe it wasn't so bad, maybe it is, but he wouldn't do it alone, least of all you.

He trains Caraxes to protect you above everything and everyone, you are not a person of very strange desires for which he is grateful because he does judge your strange foods, but he always has someone on your side, he is not a man to wake up at night, even if he is not even a man to sleep, I say that he loves your pregnant sex, it is exciting if I may say so, to see you pregnant with his child, it seemed that it would not be so good, but he was well cheating, and you seemed to want him even more, he liked that.

I say that you and Lucerys were already planning to have children, so the news was very well accepted, maybe the best among all the boys, his heart beat stronger just with the thoughts of your son, of you, a family with him, this took all his daily thoughts, he would like to stay with you, not exactly for protection, but just to convince himself for all the time that this son was yours, he didn't know with what shade or characteristics his son would have, he cursed himself for having these thoughts, but honestly it doesn't stop loving him more, with your appearance or his, it was his son and it didn't matter.

He was the one who helped you the most in terms of food or even massages, he wants to make you feel good, and you never liked to bother the poor maids, it was funny to see him doing little massages on your feet, so attentive, so focused, you would kiss him and say you were simply the luckiest woman in the world, which he would laugh because it is totally the opposite, you run away from your quarters to the castle kitchen, almost having a heart attack when one of the guards thought you were thieves, but it's just the prince and princess "stealing" food, even with the embarrassment you continue until you are 100% satisfied, he would taste all your gororobas, and praise them all, but in his mind he just wants to spit them out.

Lucerys feels so insecure about what kind of father he would be, he doesn't know how to be one, what would make a good father, he hasn't had the best father in the world, even though he loves his father deeply, but you would reassure him, that he would be a good father figure over his son, that he is simply the sweetest and kindest man in the world, and he is so grateful that you are taking this step with him, he usually gives you several kisses on your belly, and he is one of the ones who talks the most with your baby, sometimes you feel that it is just a piece of meat between these two people who already seem to love each other so much.

[arcielee]

Interview With a Writer

Thank you @st-eve-barnes for going over your Saltburn series with me! Just a reminder, you can view volume 1 & 2 of my ongoing series Interview With a Writer, where these talented individuals allow me to pick their brains over the brilliance behind their writing!

Name: st-eve-barnes

Story: Leverage

Paring: Michael Gavey x Female!Reader

WARNINGS: 18+ for explicit content and language. Kissing, oral sex (male receiving), dry humping, hand job, fingering, p in v sex. First kiss and loss of virginity. Experienced reader. Enemies to lovers vibes.

So, when did you start writing?

I guess I have to say as a teenager, though I never shared anything I wrote back then. I still have the notebooks I used to drabble in (in Dutch), it wasn’t very good at all but I guess even back then I had that need to be creative and make my own stories.

I officially started writing fanfic in 2013. I watched Thor the Dark World, fell in love with Loki, made a Tumblr and a whole new world opened. After a few months of reading fanfic, I started writing my own. Again, it wasn’t very good at all but even my bad stories slowly started to find an audience on here, so I stuck with it.

Loki is amazing, just Aemond energy in a different font.

He truly is! I've written different characters since, but the moment I saw Aemond on screen I was transported back to the first time I saw Loki. His intensity, that quiet threat like you don't know what he's going to do next, combined with this, "I was made to be king but my stupid brother is the chosen one."

And a certain sadness, of course. We know they're the villains, but we understand them in a way and can feel their pain. And they are sexy as hell of course ;)

Where did the plot for Leverage come from?

Okay, so first of all, I am someone who never plans an entire plot when I start a fic. I am very much a "make it up as I go along" writer. I start with an idea and a dynamic I want to write between two characters and then I build from there.

For this one I wanted Reader and Michael to have a common goal and a common enemy, something that would push these two different characters to want to work together. I wanted the enemies to lovers vibe but soft. Like, you can tell very early on in the fic that they have empathy for each other. When Reader is crying, Michael softens up easily, and when she sees Michael being vulnerable about not being able to get girls, she feels for him as well.

Their personalities will still clash even after that, but you can (hopefully) feel the connection between them as well. I wanted Ben's threat to loom over them for the entire fic but also never make it the main plot point in every chapter. The main plot for me here was how Michael and Reader could help each other change and grow, and then either accept that change or turn away from it.

Was there anything in specific that inspired your Reader portrayal?

No, not really, I think. I wanted to make her independent and confident, but also a little bit lonely, all traits you can also find in Michael. And anything else, as usual, I make up as I go along. I get to know the characters as I write them and often I'm surprised where they take me. In this fic I think it was Michael who surprised me the most though, he really turned out different than I initially had planned.

Explain your interpretation of Michael. What drives him? How did he differ from what you originally had in mind?

Salburn didn't give us much to work with, and I actually love that because it gives us so much freedom to play with the character.

I went with what the movie did give us: Michael's obvious hatred for the popular privileged kids. It's the reason he initially hates Reader, but warms up to her when he learns that she is actually working for her place at Oxford and she is not a real part of Ben's group. I think he is driven to help her purely because of that common enemy in the beginning.

Then he gets to know her a little and the promise of sex comes into play, which he definitely doesn't say no to. What surprised me in writing him is that I initially planned on writing him as a sub throughout the entire fic, but then half way in the tables started turning and he started taking over control a bit (of the Reader and me as well apparently!). And then suddenly it made complete sense to write him that way, because he would be that overeager student who wants to do well and who does the homework to get it exactly right, it doesn't matter whether it's math or sex, he wants to show how good and smart he is.

Him just accepting his feelings for her so calmly was also something I didn't plan, but just sort of happened as I was writing.

My initial plans there was going to be a big fight between her and Michael right before they would call things off. He would force her to admit her feelings and the sex would turn quite rough; Michael just being Michael and saying a lot of wrong things to her that would eventually shut her down completely. But I never wrote that scene and by the time I got there in the story it didn't seem to fit their characters anymore and it also seemed too heavy for this fic so I let go of that idea.

Do you feel your Reader and Michael complement one another?

I definitely think they complement each other, but I also think they are quite alike in many ways. As I said before, they are both quite confident in different ways and insecure in others.

I do think they complement each other perfectly with Michael being more book smart and focused, while Reader is (a lot) better with people and social skills. I think them being together changes them both for the better cause they can learn from each other's personalities and bring out the best out in each other (but also the worst, of course).

Let's say that in their future they definitely learn to focus on bringing out the best and not the worst in each other ;)

Do you think you'll ever continue their story?

Never say never, but there's no plans to write more for them for now. I don't think I've written many sequels over the years, but I love writing different ideas and dynamics between two characters and once they are together, it's like "my work here is done."

Do you have a personal favorite story (on ao3 or Tumblr) you'd like to share?

My absolute favorite story is from a previous fandom that I'm not in anymore, but I have to share that one as it is the single most beautiful thing I've ever read. It was the fic that pulled me into the fandom. It's a Stucky story and it's called Not Easily Conquered, known as NEC in the fandom.

It will crush your soul and heal you and I will give anyone the same advice I got before I read it for the first time: be prepared because this one will hurt. I cried for like a week after I read it and I don't cry easily so this one should come with a warning. But it is absolutely worth it!

Do you have another story in the works?

The only thing I'm working on right now is a Felix Catton x Reader story called Pretty Little Liars. Two chapters have been posted and I'm working on the next ones, but it may be a while as life has been a bit full on here lately.

Would you like to share a snippet of what's to come?

“I think he has a little crush on you,” you stated while Felix opened the door to his room and let you step inside first. Felix shook his head but the little blush on his cheeks didn’t go unnoticed by you. “It’s not like that,” he denied, “He’s just…a bit lost and I’m trying to be his friend.” “You sure that’s all he wants?” “Yeah,” he laughed, “Ollie doesn’t want me, he just wants to be like me.” “If you say so,” you sighed, not convinced. Felix grabbed you by the shoulders and pushed you down to sit on the side of his bed, leaning forward to look into your eyes, “Hey, come on, don’t ruin this by becoming jealous.” “I’m not jealous, I’m…concerned.” That wasn’t a lie. Jealousy was never a factor, you knew right from the start that Felix would never truly be yours, you would always have to share him with the rest of the world. And you always accepted that. But the idea of sharing him with Oliver somehow made your blood boil. Felix kneeled down in front of you, eyes locking with yours as his gaze darkened and he smiled that irresistible smile of his. “Now, did you come up here to chat about Ollie, or to get your pussy eaten, hmm? Cause I can’t do both at the same time.” His lips connected with your knee, kissing your skin softly and you bit your lip and sighed deeply, “Fine, I’ll shut up.”

[bbygirl-aemond]

Hi hi! (Before I begin I wanted to say I really love Stormbreak <3 Your writing is so powerful!) I have read your reply for anon on why you are a Book!Alicent apologist - as a book reader I'm not fond of her but I do concede to some of your points. However, wondering how you find Book!Aegon or Aemond? Aegon didn't rape, which is a good thing, but he also fed his sister alive to his dragon. And Aemond chose to pursue and kill Lucerys out of his free will (and not because he can't control Vhagar)

oh yeah i very much have thoughts about book aemond and aegon! let me say a few things here:

for aegon, there are still some allegations of him touching young girls inappropriately, though it's ofc always hard to tell with f&b what is meant to count as the accurate version, but i don't wanna ignore that since a commenter pointed it out.

as far as him feeding rhaenyra to his dragon, think of it this way: by this point in time, rhaenyra has had his six-year-old son slaughtered, has driven his wife insane to the point of suicide, was the reason his brother (aemond) was killed, and STILL poses a threat to his remaining family's lives. i would've fed her to sunfyre too at this point. if the roles were reversed, rhaenyra would have also done the same, and i would've also defended it.

i think aegon's willingness to keep aegon the younger alive and even to install him as his heir points to how willing he was to let bygones be bygones at the end of it all. he didn't want to punish baby aegon for who his mother was, and i think that's fairly honorable.

there's also the fact that the iron throne never cut aegon, which i think is so interesting. grrm makes a point of showing how when people are bad leaders (think viserys, think maegor towards the end of his life, and think rhaenyra towards the end of her life) the throne will reject them by cutting them. as a side note, i think rhaenyra would've been fine if she hadn't been so traumatized and twisted by the dance, i don't think she's inherently a bad ruler.

as for aemond, the book actually leaves it up to interpretation! as the accounts point out: no one knows exactly what happened up there. we know that both dragons took flight, and only vhagar and aemond returned, and that he did have lucerys's eyes. even the details we have, remember, can't be taken as actual fact, since the entire point of f&b is that history remembers things incorrectly. but still if you take them at face value, we don't know what actually happened up there, which is part of why the show didn't actually contradict the book with the season one finale. it simply added details the book did not show.

of course i'll always be the first to admit that i have a habit of trying to view characters from both sides in better lights than they are possibly meant to be perceived. but i still hold myself to using critical thinking and crafting actual, defensible arguments. i think part of why the unreliability of f&b is so interesting to me is because in many ways it doesn't rule out the possibilities of characters being actually not that evil, even while trying to make you think they are 100% evil (again this is true for members of team black as well imo and especially the women, not just for aegon and aemond). it has very clear agendas but doesn't always have evidence to back them up.

[lemonhemlock]

Honestly I think I hate Cersei because she thinks she is some mastermind while she isn’t. Tywin and how he keep holding power for so long is very interesting, btw I love Tywin and Kevan dynamics. Jaime is my fave i just love his storyline. As for Tyrion, there are 2 of them. The book one and the show one. Show one I hate. Book one I kinda enjoy because he constantly flirts with darkness. I don’t buy show Tyrion poor misunderstood meow meow. And I hate that they did the same with show Aemond. That’s why I prefer Aegon and Daemon. From the beginning you know where they stand, there are no attempts to make them sympathetic bullshit. Stop whitewashing characters in order to make characters more sympathising for audience. The reason why the Joker, Soprano Family and Roy family from Succession are so great is because they aren’t portrayed as some poor people being victims of their circumstances all their life. Aemond wanting to console Jace at Driftmark? What the fuck is that? Also giving him sexual trauma made me laugh. The show made it clear I and everyone else is meant to feel sorry for him but I just laughed at how pathetic they are. Like you have weak Viserys, pedo Daemon, rapist and drunkard Aegon and traumatised and with only one eye Aemond. So yeah, the winner of who should be the fan favourite is clear. Instead of showing the 4 of them as bad and letting people choose who their favourite is, they create 3 of them in unsympathetic light and make one of them #1 victim and the other 3 as monsters or weak men. Sorry but I hate the narrative where I am being shown down my throat who I am supposed to love and who to hate. Especially if 3 out of 4 characters are doing terrible things and only one behaves properly until starting the war. I really can’t wait for Aemond to burn Riverlands, most stans would leave his fanclub and began to see Aegon is not the worst guy out there. I just hope TGC won’t stop playing Aegon until the moment Aemond will show everyone what a legit psycho he really is.

idk what to tell you, anon, this is not exactly the blog for cersei haters. i've always found this prevailing tendency of enjoying jaime as a character but disliking cersei to be very strange, bc their POVs are so intertwined and they are as delusional & "awful" as the other so i don't really see the point here. it's a choice i would personally interrogate bc more often than not it has some v unsavory roots. cersei can be just as funny as jaime and he can be just as unhinged as her. also cersei's dumbness is greatly exaggerated, she does have some good ideas and a knack for getting out of tricky situations (some of them of her own making, yes, but she's hardly the idiot fandom likes to paint her as). fans sure love to think they would have made better decisions had they been in her situation.

she also suffers from getting a POV so late in the game, in comparison to her brothers, and is way more affected psychologically by the death of her son than jaime is + the prophecy hanging over her head. she's basically having the worst mental health crisis in AFFC and getting judged for not being Machiavelli's Prince

as for the rest of the message, as i've said in a previous post, i see this desire to not allow characters to be anything other than cardboard villains very reductive and not smth i'm personally interested in fiction. narrative bias and needless demonisation at the expense of others is one thing, but, generally-speaking, why is it somehow superior if they only receive dark traits instead of being humanized & muddled? why is it better writing if aemond is only shown as a psycho killing machine? are the literature gods going to get angry if he tries to be polite one time? the roy siblings weren't coddled by the narrative but they were also shown acting like human beings (clumsily) trying to connect with people

also no actor is going to turn down hbo money and the opportunity to appear in one of the most viewed shows of the year, so i don't see why tgc would stop playing aegon, unless he were fired. these people are professional actors, they may not like or agree with certain character choices but they don't have the luxury of turning down jobs bc of their character is not "true to the text". they still have bills to pay.

[maidragoste]

Hi sweet :)

On a ask you wrote this when you answered(

“ I anticipate that Reader also has his "you are no son of mine" moment”.

Please please don’t. This would make me hate the reader.

Being told this by your mom or even your dad is just awful. Speaking sadly from being abused. Sometimes the emotional and mental abuse from what they said to me was worse than the physical abuse. Sorry I just went really personal there. Sorry.

I thought the Queen was going to be a good awesome caring mom but it seems like she is going to be from what I read from your answering questions.

I love this series and I love how you have done it so it’s with Aemond and Aegon. We need more of these fics. The reader having both of them. ;).

-🌸⭐️🌹

Hi anon!. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I hope that at least you were able to get out of that situation or that things are better ❤️❤️

My intention is that everyone can enjoy my writing. I honestly never thought the Queen and Baelon's relationship was going to be a trigger for anyone. I'm sorry.

Maybe I could get rid of the Reader dialogue by saying "you are no son of mine" but the relationship between Reader and Baelon will remain the same. At least in this canon I can't imagine them any other way… I would have to change Baelon's personality just to make them get along better. It would basically be creating a new character and I already have things planned so…

Baelon's role is important to the future of dynamics within the entire family. Due to his actions, his family is divided and his younger sisters have to play roles for which they were not prepared.

I confess that at first I was afraid to publish things from the future of the series because I knew that Reader as a mother would be somewhat controversial, because she doesn't treat all of her children the same, but honestly I didn't want to write her being perfect. We all have flaws and from her perspective she's just trying to do her best. Of course, no one deserves to hear those words from their parents, and they don't have to live up to their parents' expectations either. I just like to think about complex dynamics and try to prove each side's point of view.

Again I'm sorry you went through that. I could put warnings to prevent you from reading that. I don't know

I'm glad you like the series and hope to hear from you again in the future. Thank you very much for writing me 🥰🥰💕💕💖💖💖

I hope that nobody bothers my answer but if anyone wants to continue talking about this my inbox is always open and I will read them with pleasure

[coleoffduty]

I know legacies still has a long way to go but can you drop any hints on lucerys' thought process? Not asking to spoil but i keep thinking about how he was trying to make aemond jealous by mentioning rhaena and him having sex but like... why? He gets jealous over aemond smiling at the staff, tells him he won't share him then goes to (supposedly) get back with rhaena.. I'm trying not to be too harsh to him because the fic is mosrly from aemond's pov & this entire family has unresolved issues (luke has a multitude) and we're still waiting on more info regarding himself and rhaena, and his view of aemond. Though I'm theorising that the 2 missed calls were actually to let aemond know that he's going to driftmark not necessarily for the aegon situation (not entirely at least) but idk guess we'll see

well, lucerys is insecure enough to the point where he bases his self-worth on whether people like him or not. he knows aemond finds him attractive enough to casually sleep with him, but wants to know more. in his perspective, he understands there’s still malice and hurt between them with the eye situation, storm’s end, and everything new that’s happened since they’ve rekindled (which is a fuck ton). he also knows aemond can be detached enough from a situation to not care but still show up for it, meaning he could totally be having sex with him without really any deeper meaning. that’s why when he sees him interacting with other potential interests, luke shows that childish-insecurity streak. he ultimately needs to know if he has the same affect on aemond as aemond does on him. i mentioned this a while back on this blog but the main reason why i chose to write through aemond’s pov is because he’s basically ‘😐’ and maybe two other moods tops so he’s really hard to read. 

we do know aemond’s peeved by the comment, but in the moment, luke probably didn’t gather that information. aemond makes jabs at him and rhaena's relationship during chapter 9's argument but it doesn't give away how he actually feels about them. and keep in mind, the only time lucerys ever feels like there’s some affection is through the roughness of their hookups which still isn’t a good reference. aemond isn’t good at prepping, he’s not soft at all, and basically takes all of his frustrations from life (the blogs, the family situation, his childhood traumas, his failures) out during sex. it’s a horrible cycle that allows lucerys to be confused and act out.

and i don’t think it’s really spoilers to say that rhaena and luke are definitely not back together though. there’s still greater forces at play with luke’s inheritance and the combination of aegon and daemon’s infidelity being exposed so just know if someone tells lucerys to jump, he asks how high. aemond’s not the only person who gets to handle his image or is the real first basis of his affection (rhaena). we’ll see the beginning of those repercussions/how aemond deals with not being able to fully control luke next-next chapter though...

what we will be getting is a rhaena and aemond sit down/deeper interaction this update which i’m very excited for! 

[daylander1000]

Hi, I've recently discovered your fic and I absolutely love it! I'm currently reading chapter 8 and Aemond's list is such a great idea. He reminds me of Arya, but your version of him is even more interesting and likeable imho. Just one thing, I believe that the bastards born in KL/the Crownlands are called Waters, so the names of Aemond's nephews on the list would be Jacaerys and Lucerys Waters, not Rivers. This is not a criticism or anything, just a tiny detail a nerd like me noticed😅. Anyway, I'm in love with your writing and would like to know what is your opinion on Alicent in HotD. Her interactions and characterization in SWHHW is just what I imagined her to be as a mother, especially to Aemond after the eye loss. As for the show, I mostly liked her characterization until episode 8 and the whole "you'll make a fine queen" thing. After that I had mixed feelings about the route they decided to take with her.

Also, how did you get introduced to Rhaemond? Hints from the show, Tumblr...? It is an interesting ship with a lot of potential, but sadly not as popular as some others, at least not yet. Thanks in advance for your answer and for giving me something good to read:))

Nerds together, strong!

(sorry x1000 for taking so long to respond. Exams are done but I picked up an eyestrain 😒 This was half-answered in my drafts for a week? Very sorry.)

Criticism is fine! It's good! I mean, I would love 100% total praise, but I am honestly amazed that people love this. My ego is well pleased. 😅 Thank you (and everyone) for reading! Like, I would love to say that I write for the simple joy of it, but no. Readers make it worth doing.

I will confess that I didn't research this properly. I went with Harwin Strong > Riverlands > Rivers, but yeah. I've been out of the fandom for a minute and did not think it through. I have to edit this when I'm done so hopefully I remember to fix it. Will make a note.

My view on Alicent... Honestly, I'm almost at a point where I feel like any criticism of any non-Rhaenyra character is unfair because imo the writers aren't actually trying to create characters, they just contort everyone else to fit whichever role they need for Rhaenyra's plot, but okay, pros and cons? What I like versus dislike?

She's too apologetic, for one thing. I like the green dress scene, but it's so rare to see her show some teeth. I get it, that she really doesn't have all that much power, especially after Driftmark when she's watching her husband try to get their son to snitch on her so that he could have her tongue cut out, or have her tried for treason or killed or set aside or whatever Viserys was angling for in that scene, but I still wish she had a more proactive personality. More like Cersei, Catelyn, Margaery, Brienne, etc.

No way is Catelyn being gaslit into apologizing for being angry that Bran got pushed through a window, you know? Cersei might apologize but she'd also probably leave half the city blind by the time she's done getting her vengeance. I wanted some of that.

Half the fandom hates her for wanting Aegon on the throne instead of Rhaenyra and my problem is that she's not doing enough to make that happen. Everyone's living the grimdark life, playing the game of thrones, while she's a high fantasy damsel queen. They make her a sort of 'Trapped In the Wrong Genre'/'Not Built For This' character like Sansa and it's kinda hard to watch tbh.

I mean, she's more of a Good Wife™ than Alicia in the actual show named Good Wife. Rhaenyra wants to put Jace on the throne, and presumably Daemon, the family serial killer, would want to have his own son take the throne, either way, all Alicent's children and grandchildren will have to be killed to fully secure the throne since Westeros plays by Best Claim Wins but also Keep What You Kill rules. Why isn't she leading the charge to prevent that?

From her perspective she has witnessed the destruction of House Velaryon. Laenor, Laena and Vaemond dead, Baela and Rhaena, Daemon's own daughters disinherited and dismissed for Luke, the boy who cut her son's eye out without so much as a slap on the wrist. What does she think is waiting for her children and grandchildren under Queen Rhaenyra, King Daemon and then King Jace and Master of the Tides Luke?

It's not like she doesn't know how Rhaenyra feels about her children. When someone calls for your still bleeding child to be tortured - there's not a lot to misinterpret about that. Fans can be like "No, that happened a whole episode ago. Get over it! She meant to say gently questioned with cookies and tickles! Rhaenyra would never!" but Alicent isn't supposed to be a fan of Rhaenyra in the show.

Post time-skip, she's like “water under the bridge” when only minutes ago they were accusing her of poisoning the king. You cannot "water under the bridge" your enemies throwing you, your father and your children into highway traffic at every opportunity.

It's like they wrote her to be the show's butt-monkey. Daemon and Viserys literally laughing at her when she's just trying to be cordial, Rhaenys of all people gets to give her that "you have failed feminism" speech, Rhaenyra gets her “now they see you" moment...

Not even sure if butt-monkey is the right trope. She might be more of a Chew Toy? I don't understand why they're this determined to make her a permanent victim. With Sansa, there was the sense that she was being punished in a way for getting Ned killed, for being naive, childish, etc... Ned gets punished for his rigidity... People get "punished" in asoiaf world, but it's like Alicent's being punished for "seducing" grown ass Viserys? For not buying in wholesale to her Hightower inferiority and the natural order of Targaryen supremacy?

I don't understand the desire by the writers and the showrunners to keep kicking a character who is down and has never been up.

When you have one opponent being OP, the other one is usually powerful in some other equivalent way. Like superman has physical power but Lex gets social power and genius intellect.

Dr Manhattan is near omniscient/omnipotent but Ozy is smart enough to plan for that.

You would think it's supposed to be Aegon v Rhaenyra because they're both Viserys' Dragonrider children who stand to inherit, but S1 is entirely Alicent v Rhaenyra where Rhaenyra has

physical power in a dragon,

political power in being the named heir and Viserys' clear favorite with Corlys in her pocket,

childbirthing power (5 sons to Laena and Aemma's 0, and Alicent's 1, 2 or 3 depending on how you count it), and

social power with Daemon and Rhaenys killing for her without hesitation (or repercussion). Even Baela who barely knows her eagerly wants to go fight for her.

What does Alicent have to balance it out?

Instead of giving her the cunning tactician card, they make her dependent on Larys the Clubfoot with a Foot Fetish™

God, I'm ranting again.

I hate how Laena was written too, as a "Daemon's trying his best" Good Wife™ but it's hard to think about them as actual characters outside of simply being Rhaenyra's foils so of course I had to fix it up a little in swhhw.😅 It's mostly a fix-it fic for Rhaena, but if I were doing one for Laena or Alicent, I don't think Rhaena and Aemond would have even been born. I'm talking about serious murders from Day 1. 🤣 As soon as Aegon was born, we're going directly into a Queen Regent Single Mom Era and Vhagar is being fed on pedigree prince meat.

I hate HotD with the passion of a thousand sons, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the black characters and the ND/disabled/maimed characters.

Alicent already had my empathy from the beginning. I don't nail pick, but I hair-pull (BFRBs are a bitch) so, it's near impossible for me to be on the side of the Kool Kidz laughing at her, just personally speaking, regardless of how inconsistent/incoherent she's written.

I try to really avoid a lot of the discourse on hotd because of how ableist it is, but you still see so much of it. All the r-words thrown out for Aegon and Helaena, all the eye jokes on Aemond and the idea that Alicent has inferior/disabled children and grandchildren who should be killed... Like, in 2023, it's just sad that this is still a thing, but I'm always going to be team weirdos (endearing).

And being Team Rhaemond... I have a longer post where someone else asked me about it but it generally boils down to Tumblr and AO3. Basically:

The fanart on here... The Aemond fanart and headcanons are hilarious. Rhaena fanart is harder to come by but it exists.

The dinner staredown gifs. I completely misread that scene. I honestly thought Aemond was looking at Rhaena because I thought the kid was Joff. (I am moderately faceblind and I couldn't really tell them apart on first watch). I was also just kinda generally confused by how they were all sitting down to dinner to feast after Vaemond's murder earlier that day.

Rhaena's is painfully underwritten. I've never seen a character more in need of fanfiction than Rhaena.

This pic: (not mine, I just found it on Google but the original has Aegon in it. it's like a fanart "cover" of a real behind the scenes photo of Ewan and Phoebe and Bethany... )

The lack of Daemon-free Laena fics. I went to AO3 looking for Laena fics but I can't read Daemyra. I tried, but I can't and maybe 90% of Laena fics are actually Daemyra fics, so to avoid that I had to filter out daemon and Rhaenyra so I was left with nothing. And then I tried Baela, but they were only Jace x Cregan fics with more Daemyra. And then searching Rhaena led me to Rhaemond, and there were like 20 fics or so and I read them all, and then I came here for more fics but realized that between the Sirius Black tag and the Velaryon Strong!Reader tag and Visenya lives/Daemon's OC daughter that it would be near impossible to get an actual black reader, Velaryon reader, Rhaena, Baela or woc OC fic, and I was like "FFS, how did this fandom get worse? This is 2023!" and I decided on shipping rhaemond out of spite.

[zeciex]

This is a bit late but if you allow me to I'd still like to give my opinion on your question about Aemond and him being OOC or less repressed than he should've been!! I personally like your version of him very much and think you've portrayed him really well so far! He's cunty and repressed enough. By trying to make him even more repressed than he already is, well, I think there's always the danger of going overboard with it(him being cuntier though…I don't have anything against that lmaoo). This is my personal opinion of course as I'm sure others will disagree but many authors mistakenly did this in the past and their Aemond came across as too emotionally constipated (and made him act quite stupidly at times lol), not to mention that in the process of that Alicent was also villainized, intentionally or not, as the sole cause of Aemond's repression since the line of thinking was that she indoctrinated him into only caring about duty and sometimes also into avidly following the Faith of the Seven thus giving a lot of religious meaning behind his behavior (as an addition I don't necessarily think that every author had something personal with Alicent and went out of their way to portray her negatively on purpose, but many readers are definitely very unfair and lash out against her all the time as if she isn't a medieval woman in a medieval time who acts accordingly and not like a modern day woman).

Again as a personal opinion, I do think this interpretation of Aemond being the most dutiful out there is a based a lot more on fanon rather than canon. Even in the show he provokes a scandal at the dinner by obviously going against his mother's wishes and I'd argue that chasing Luke on his war dragon is far from being the action of a dutiful son, even if he didn't intend to kill him. For someone who views himself as the dutiful son, as a reader of history and philosophy (this line was so hilarious, like he obviously thinks highly of himself) he had to realize that going after an envoy would be a bad idea because there's no way he ever though his mother would've ever been okay with the idea. But he put his own feelings and personal vendetta against Luke above duty and sadly we saw the result of that... He is no Aegon obviously as in someone who disregards everything about duty and goes out whoring and drinking but I also don't think he's someone who would blindly do everything his mother and grandfather tell him to do.

If we go by book canon, then he's even less dutiful especially when taking his relationship with Alys into account. While yes, a man (married or unmarried) taking a lover and fathering bastards isn't something out of the ordinary in their world, there is the possibility that he did marry her (personally, I doubt it and doubt the show will go with this version but you never know) like she implied to have happened. Point is, these aren't the actions of a dutiful man because by marrying a lowborn woman and a supposed witch he's endangering the alliance with the Baratheons, something Aegon/the Greens absolutely need so they can win the civil war. In conclusion, the fact that his actions and behavior are only driven by duty to his family are true only to a point. There's basis in both canons that he's perfectly capable of making decisions that go against duty. In your story for example I don't think it's going to be OOC for him if in the end he decides to make moves against Alicent's probable decision to betroth him to one of the Baratheon ladies and pushes for a marriage to Daenera instead (even if Daenera will be forced to marry him like you said it will happen? correct me if wrong) even if in the front of his family he will justify that decision as something good for the Greens (but we know better why he'll do it).

Ultimately, you, as an author, should write what you personally think is best for your story!! I mean what is the point in publishing something you don't feel satisfied with? Readers will come and go and not every single one of them will love every writing choice you make. Whether your Aemond (or any other character) acts like in canon or not is a very tricky question considering he's being put into new situations and meeting new characters and it's only natural there will always be some disagreement amongst readers because many of us interpret his character differently even in canon. Again, so far you've done great with his characterization especially considering the nature of your story - an Aemond x an OC/daughter of Rhaenyra pairing - which is also quite tricky in itself!! Due to the high numbers stories with this kind of pairing many tend to be formulaic lately (for example it's far more common to put all the pressure on Aemond and have him renounce his family, switch sides and swear allegiance to the Blacks just so he can get with the woman he allegedly loves while the opposite almost never happens - not that it would've been more realistic if that happened instead, just saying) but so far you've done great to differentiate your story and bring a more unique interpretation!

You don't understand how much this message means to me.

I've been in a slump lately with writing, and this really helps with giving me more of a perspective. Sometimes when I write something every day for so long, you kind of go blind to the characters and the writing itself, so hearing another perspective definitely helps.

And you're totally right! Aemond is dutiful and loyal and the 'good' son (I mean, we haven't seen Daeron, but I've heard he really is the GOOD son, ya know?)-- but we also see that he is easily riled up, he lets his emotions get the best of him, he is so set on revenge and taking what he considers his right that he goes blind to duty. He is reckless. And I think I work within that recklessness.

And I think that is also where the similarities between Aemond and Daenera reside. They both try to do their duty, they both contort themselves and try and be what is needed of them... But they're also very emotional and reckless. If they really were as dutiful as they believe themselves to be, then none of this would have happened. They wouldn't have started anything. But they did. And now they're facing the consequences.

Since we're nearing the show, I will be working towards Aemond falling in line with the depiction of the show (though I mean, he will also be MY Aemond, he's just going to be what he has to be.). He will be firmly team Green and Daenera firmly team Black, and that is something I will chip away at, though I will start with Daenera. BUT the seed of it has already been sown, and we will see it next chapter and see it watered and growing over the course of the rest of the story.

It's funny, because Aemond appears as this stoic, restrained and collected person, and he thinks himself like that, but we see him blow up multiple times and get all emotional and shit. So saying that he's totally repressed isn't quite true. He sows his emotions a lot, well, the bad emotions. And in, my story, I play with his internal struggle because 1. He hasn't seen what love should be like when growing up, and that shit leaves marks. 2. Such things as love has always been pushed aside for duty. 3. Love scares him, because its something he doesn't know or understand. Aemond very much loves Daenera, but he can't fully identify that, and even if somewhere deep inside of him he does, he can't accept it fully because that makes him weak. It is like handing over his heart. And then, at the same time, he acknowledges that he wants her. But because he hasn't seen/know love, and he doesn't understand it, he becomes possessive over it. He wants it like he wants the throne, like he wanted a dragon.

Sorry, I went on a tangent and I properly haven't made myself clear.

BUT!! This really helped me!! It put my Aemond into perspective and it helped me reconcile with my doubts about him.

--I also want to say that since I started this story, I've come to see Alicent in a more sympathetic light. I really like her character. That being said, given we follow Daenera a lot, the story will reflect her apprehension about her and such. And given Alicent's dislike of Daenera, we will see that reflected in their relationship as well. //I often think of how similar Daenera and Alicent really are. Neither would like the comparison.//

[navree]

Hello there!

I want to know your opinion about the show version of Aegon, what do you think about it, do like their interpretation of his character? ( with exception of ramsay's stuff they added to his character)

Given by the fact you've read the book what things you want to change about Aegon and things you want to stay the same. I mean I'm curious how you would write aegon if you have given the chance to do so, just going by the vague description of his book character

Hey anon!

Fortunately for you, I have discussed Aegon a lot (because people ask me about him A Lot), so I'll link the posts below, but the long and short of it is that, excluding the "ramsay stuff" as you said, there's a lot that's going on with Aegon that I quite like, I just wish it was intentional writing rather than some subtext, TGC's acting choices, and interpretation.

So with that in mind, by and large I'd keep Aegon the same as we're seeing him thus far, just exclude the stupid bad writing stuff and make it clear that the stuff I do like about him is authorial intent, not just us overanalyzing stuff. I've touched a bit on stuff I'd change and keep if I were writing Aegon here but in how I'd write him if I were in charge, I'd add in a lot more of him being incredibly family oriented.

The book, like with everything it is, is kinda vague about it, but I do think it's important that Aegon be shown, despite his failings and his waywardness and his alcoholism and all his issues (and he does need to have issues, this show would be incredibly boring if it actually was cookie cutter good side vs bad side), to have a deep and unabiding love of family that overrides everything. One of the versions of how Aegon was convinced to accept the crown has it that he really started to get on board with it once it was pointed out to him that his kids would be in serious danger if Rhaenyra and Daemon were ruling, which is remarkably prescient considering Certain Things That Happen Later. It also needs to show up in his relationship with his siblings too (and honestly we just needed so much more of Aegon and Helaena's dynamic I would have loved to see the messy contradiction that comes from a pretty solid older brother/younger sister relationship contrasted with a dysfunctional marriage and what it does for Aegon's character that he physically can't love her That Way but he still loves her cuz they're family), the core actualization of that Alicent line about cuffing each other as they wish at home but defending each other in the world. It's why I love the dinner scene in episode 8 so much, Aemond decides to be petty at people who hurt him and Aegon is 100% on board to the point of committing physical violence against Luke even just for getting involved.

Most things about his book storyline I'd keep the same (I especially love his time on Dragonstone and eventual takeover, if only for the Sunfyre bond), but I'd definitely flesh out more stuff about his thought process, his feelings, how he as a character reacts to certain things. All in all, I don't think I'd write him much different than how he is now (stupid bad writing aside) I'd just be making a better, upgraded model.

And here's the more detailed posts about Aegon. It's not all of them, cuz I do reblog stuff and I'm a prolific tag talker, but this is all the important stuff in terms of how I view Aegon and some of the wants I have for his arc and trajectory:

Post about Alicent's relationships to her kids where Aegon and their relationship is discussed at length (to the point where I finally hit Tumblr's character limit per paragraph)

Post about how Viserys is the worst where Aegon and their relationship is discussed at length

Some generalized Aegon thoughts

More Aegon thoughts and why the rapist thing was bad writing

Aegon and his brothers

Some theorizing on Aegon and Aemond

Theorizing on Aegon's ultimate fate (spoilers for what that is in case you haven't ready the book and don't wanna know)

Hopes for Aegon in s2

Aegon's subtextual touch repulsion

Sunfyre headcanons post that includes parts of his relationship with Aegon

More Rook's Rest wishcasting (seriously I have like a shot for shot idea of the entire battle in my head)

[reginarubie]

Great chapter that highlights the view how westeros sees a woman on the throne, with a sparkle of humanity.

I love it.I love Alfred, despite being misogynist and the fact he is protecting the little girl warms my heart.

Feel bad for Nyra because she's still a daughter, a mother, a human.

Daemon disgusts me further with each chapter and I'm so scared for Sansa but at the same time I know she won't be alone and she can handle Daemon because sadly she had known those type of men.

Does Daemon believe Sansa want him? He believes he's cat and she's the mouse and the sheep butttt Sansa has the upper hand.

If Rhaenys has acknowledged, Daemon and Nyra will do it soon.

It would be interesting seeing the dyanmic between S and D shifting:Her having the upper hand and Daemon becoming more frustated and desperate to get in her head but to no avail.

Also regard the dream:at this point I'm choosing the names for the future babe of Sansa and Aemond😍

I can also say that you're one of the few brave writers that wrote Daemon in his worst? I stumble across two writers that don't hesistate to write him in his worst:

I would love to recommend you these stories😊

Wildfire and Blood

He has Alicent/Daemon pairing and you may know it won't end well😅

Also here we have the pair of Alicent and Daemon and Nyra!

Personally I would give it a shot but it's your choice!

Have a nice day dear!!!

Ciao @tremendouswolfsaladranch!

Thank you for the recs, I will check them out!, they seem pretty interesting so far.

I think Alfred is a mix between Selmy and Davos, so there is misogyny typical of the environment he lives in, loyalty to his own set of rules — the same way Selmy is — and also some kind of blindness, but he's also a bit like Davos and thus protective of little girls.

That was the goal I had in mind, when I am portraying the characters of asoiaf/f&b I try to see all their facets. Whilst Nyra is not a good leader/ruler — despite some, mostly show, moments — and lacks the attitude to become a good monarch, but she's still a daughter who loved her father and mother, a sister who lost her brothers and a mother who lost her child.

I think Daemon is the kind of narcissistic man who thinks everybody wants him, because he's valyrian — thus better — because he considers himself clever and charming and mostly because everyone should simply venerate the Targaryens — though he does show a modicum of comprehension that the easiness with which the Targaryen rules depend on how the small folk sees them as well.

Rhaenys acknowledged that Ned is not a sheep, she's not the kind of woman who follows the current without a single thought, but the kind of woman who is capable of stepping up, which is exactly who Sansa is (both in show canon and book canon), but Rhaenys has something neither Daemon nor Rhaenyra have, she's more adept to read a room than they are. Daemon is very observant but he is blinded by his own bias, Rhaenys instead is the kind of woman who thinks outside the box (same way as Daenerys is) so she sees what Ned/Sansa does for what is — a wolf hiding in sheep's cloth ready to wield the considerable power she has managed to gain for her own end — I doubt especially Daemon will simply understand this. He'd have to feel the burn of it before anything else.

Are you? [choosing the names of their kids?] drop your head canons about them! Wanna see if you all can guess some of the hints I've left around the story since chapter 1.

Ehm... I'm not really reading fics atm because I'm very busy...though I've seen that people are idolizing Daemon quite a bit, still it doesn't surprise me that Black Stans would try and intimidate anyone who doesn't write one half of their fave the way they see him (though if I was a Rhaenyra' stan I would've banned him the moment she came out with that ‘I'm not a child anymore’ the biggest red flag about her having been groomed —especially thinking at book canon and how much younger than him she is — and especially more after they had shown him put his hands on her. Yes, she hurt him more than he hurt her, because his pride and love for his brother are hurt without doubt, but he still put his hands on her and that's as abusive as her ‘torturing’ someone she's supposed to love to gain the upper hand, though her I excuse since he is the one who threw hands first and she was just reacting). I'm just thankfully I've flown under they radar so far tbh.

I've already been on the receiving end of death wishes, bullying and attempts of intimidation —as well as apparent ridiculing on twitter — and whilst I showed them first-hand that they could not get me to back down, I'm still a lover not a fighter, and I prefer to keep my word-fighting abilities where they belong — at court as I am a lawyer in training and studying to become a judge — so I'd rather not have a repeat of last time (still, I have my fair share of ‘go sciacquati la bocca’ ready, just in case).

I think you've sent me this ask twice by mistake, and I think I should've replied to all, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

As I was saying today whilst replaying to this ask about the future POV chapters and which characters I like the most to write, which I find difficult and which I've been anxiously waiting to write and post, I don't think I will make Daemon a POV character, at least not in the first installment of the series (though I'm not saying anything about the side stories); for the main story I wanna wait until the female POV's around him are well settled and nuanced to then drop his POV like a bomb and disrupt it all (a bit like Jaime POV gave us a better understanding of Cersei — and her descent into her own brand of madness — and Tyrion both).

Thank you, as always for having dropped by and shown your appreciation for the story, it was always makes my day! As always sending all my love ~G.

[sydsrichie]

Hi, this will be a long message, I have read all 7 chapters and I absolutely love them and want to share some of my thoughts and ideas, because Sena has such a good potential to become savage Princess, but first things first. Aemond is such a hypocrite, he is angry at Sena for choosing the Blacks as if he hadn’t choose his side. And at the same time he thinks such thing as her birthright in Runestone is one of the reasons she shouldn’t have sided with Rhaenyra?? He really thinks she is that self centered? Boy, go to your room and rethink your life instead of lecturing others. He forgot Rhaena, Baela, Viserys and Aegon are also her family and while Sena may feel used by Rhaenyra or mistreated by Daemon, there are also her siblings and she cant just start hating them as some kind of extension of hating her father or start hating them because that would make Aemond feel loved like hell no. He completely denied her right to love her siblings. Just because Daemon is like this doesn’t mean she will hate even small Viserys and Aegon. He ask her to leave her side for him, but if the situation was opposite, he wouldn’t leave his mother and siblings for her. Aemond would be okay with her being married to him and murdering each of her siblings just because her father didn’t love her as he should have? Sena is smarter than that and she cannot become Greens pawn. She didn’t want this war, she has her own thing going on between her and her father, but Aemond is in no position to lecture her and force her, he has no right to interfere in matters between her and Daemon, she needs to fight her own battle, I want her to turn against her father, yes, but I would love to see the battle between Sena and Daemon alone, but this time no Sena, but Visenya and Vermithor. He is the reason she is in this world, and she would be the reason he dies, spektakularności ending for him, her killing him and Caraxes, take his sword Dark Sister, just pure splendor. I would love to see her remaining at Blacks side, but the change will be in her heart. Her bond with Vermithor deepen and at the same time she would embrace her full name Visenya. Her saying there is no Sena anymore, address me as Visenya. Just imagine one Black (her) defeating the strongest Black (Daemon). Queen literally.

And she is imprisoned now, so maybe Vermithor will come for her, taking her back to Dragonstone as Drogon saved Dany in arena. She returns home and focuses on defeating her father, but not as Greens pawn, but because she wants to. Just make her savage, there is so much potential for her, she is Daemon daughter after all, she is no piece of furniture to be moved as someone pleases (ekhem this applies also to you Aemond, your brother wants her as his pawn and weapon but Visenya is worth more than that)

Anyway, love your writing, excited of what happens next and hoping Visenya will show everyone she is a Player not a pawn

I'm going to print this out and put it on my fridge I s2g this is the best ask I've ever gotten

AEMOND IS AWFUL IN THAT SCENE!!!! If I had been in Sena's position, I would have given him HELL! Thank you thank you, I'm so glad it read like that. You're so right, he would never DREAM of leaving his family for Sena but expects her to do it for him? I think part of it is purely being born into his station in a wildly sexist and hierarchical society, he expects everyone to just fall in line and do what HE wants. He's had his own shit to deal with in life, yes, but he is still a spoiled prince with a silver spoon in his mouth. But I also think he is deeply insecure bc childhood trauma and daddy issues and he feels undeserving of Sena. Her refusal to throw away everything else in her life for him is only feeding into that, hence the outburst and the unwillingness to see things from her point of view. I'm hoping he LEARNS though, and it comes across that way in the story. In some ways, he is so in need of a good humbling and then in other ways, he really needs to give himself some love.

HONESTLY the plot that I have with sketchy first drafts has a lot of similarities with what you're thinking. I won't TELL you which parts are the same and which parts are different, but I'm hoping you will enjoy where I'm going with it! I am pulling a lot from Sansa and Daenerys' storylines in the books, the arc of growing from the manipulated child into a force to be reckoned with. And her dragon and her name are a part of that, 100%! She does not claim Visenya because she feels like it does not FIT. The last bearer of that name left big shoes to fill and Sena is more of a peacemaker than Visenya the Conqueror ever was, maybe more in the vein of Alysanne, my other favourite Targ queen. But I think by the end of the story she will make 'Visenya' her own.

GOD I love the way you're picking up all the little symbolism easter eggs I'm dropping. Thank you so so much and I really hope you let me know how you like the rest of the story <3