#finally some helaena in the promo

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I just want to know what Ewan meant by Aemond being gray this season as opposed to being completely black last season (which he wasn't). Aemond's "different shades" so far have only been shades we've already seen in s1, he actually had more emotions after Luke's death than he did in s2 and we saw glimpses of his vulnerability in ep9. He even felt grief for Viserys of all people (confirmed by the script). Was Ewan really talking about the two brief brothel scenes that took less than two minutes of screentime? And if Aemond does banish his mother.... That's something I can see the showrunners doing because women must always suffer from evil men, but that's so cartoonish at this point, I can't take it seriously. They can't have Alicent leaving her daughter but they have to remove her from Kings landing before the fall because god forbid show Alicent would defend the city like her book counterpart... This is insane. Why does everyone get new storylines and Emond just becomes a scapegoat for the showrunners who have to take the blame so everyone else gets whitewashed, but he can't even get proper time for his villainy? They're only turning into a boring villain. But I'm just really confused why would Ewan say that one of Aemond's motivations is to make his mother happy (in his mind) if he treats her like that? And that Aemond remembers Driftmark and how she was the only one who stood by him. Or this is another lie from Ewan just like "Aemond's redeeming quality is his loyalty"? I don't like it when the cast is setting the expectations only to subvert it on screen.

Hello!

Right, I (just like pretty much everyone in the fandom, I believe) noticed the discrepancies between the things Ewan said in the interviews and what we have (or haven't) seen on screen. To be fair, it concerns other actors as well (like Tom stating multiple times that Aegon and Aemond love each other no matter what and talking about Aegon's growing respect for Helaena, Fabien mentioning "he wants what she wants" thing about Criston and Alicent, Steve painting Corlys and Rhaenys' marriage in a better light that it actually looks in the show) with Aemond/Ewan situation merely being the most glaring example. And the reason it is the most glaring example is that Aemond IMO got the clumsiest and most meaningless character butchering of them all.

As for the reasons the actors (Ewan among them) keep misleading the viewers, there are several possibilities (that can - and IMO do - coexist):

While I don't think HotD cast are merely parroting the words put in their mouths by HBO team, the latter definitely give them some instructions with regards to the way they are supposed to talk about their characters and the things they need to/can't say. So, in some cases, the actors basically have to deceive the audience.

For some time now I've had an impression that the actors don't have full information on which scenes actually make it to the final version and which get cut before they see the show (once again remembering Matt Smith not knowing about "Daemon fighting Crabfeeder and his army" scene being a silent one for his character). And even if they are actually told beforehand which scenes are included in the show, I think that actors' perception of their characters are influenced by every scene they filmed (and even by some they didn't - but that's point number 3). So, during the promo the cast might take into account some scenes or plot points that we, the viewers, might never even learn about.

Each actor has their own view and opinion on their character - and this view is based not only on the script but on their own thoughts and even headcanons. I believe that is the case for the brotherly love (albeit a "weird" one) that Aegon and Aemond feel for each other according to Tom (by the way, he also mentioned the readiness for backstabbing between them being a mutual thing - define backstabbing) or for Aemond having some kind of love for and loyalty to his brother according to Ewan (define loyalty). In part this also might go for the "coloring" assigned to Aemond by Ewan.

There could be one more adjacent reason - and the saddest one: Ewan is not happy with the way Aemond's story is being told in the show (it could be noticed during several moments in the promo) and was trying his best to make the audience see the Aemond that he sees. And, well, I can't speak for other people (either fans or casual viewers) but I personally don't have it in me to judge him (or any other HotD actor doing the same thing) for it - even though, just like you, I'm not fond of being misled. Imagine giving so much thought, time, energy and love to a character, having high hopes for his development - only to be given... this. Combine it with the point number 1 (at best actors are not allowed to reveal much of what's actually going on with their characters during the promo, at worst they are told to tell lies or half-truths) and the fact that Ewan has very little experience in the 'doing promo' department - and we might just get what we, in fact, got.

[loves-requiem777]

Omg??? They look so good (Finally some Helaena promo) I live for Jace and Baela matching outfits, looking forward to seeing the young casts perform and their characters dynamic

[peachysunrize]

This episode really pissed me off. They marketed the heck out of Ewan only to show him for a bunch of seconds. No reaction from Aemond to his mother and sister just getting caught in the middle of the riot. No interaction between Aemond and Alicent. No Haelena at all. Barely Aegon. I won’t even mention the idiocy of the Queen Mother wandering around the woods with a single guard and no one giving a shit. The only point of those scenes is showing Olivia in a wet nightgown. And we got more of the rivermen! They might as well change the title to Houses of the Riverlands, considering how much screentime this snoozefest of a storyline got. I’m still waiting for some of the common folk of King’s Landing to realize that they’re starving because of Rhaenyra’s blockade, not because of the Greens. And what about her standing on a balcony watching people get roasted by the dragon, and Hugh agrees to support her? Like, what? Jace is the only one with any common sense there and of course he gets belittled for it. In the end Aemond is right not to engage in a battle against 3 dragons, but the scene is structured in a way to highlight girlboss Rahenyra, who apparently forgot that she just let dozens of people burn to death. Sorry for the rant, but I had high expectations for this episode and I’m really upset 😭

Oh no baby it’s okay!!!!! Rant as much as you want!! I’m just as frustrated as you and I’m sure many people are the same.

Unfortunately with all the hype this episode got before the airing, I had high hopes as well. Many sources said the best episode of the season, 10/10 ratings etc etc and what we got was… so idk messy? Boring? I liked a few scenes ngl but the heavyyyy leaning towards Team Black is so annoying. Team Green had what 10mins from 67mins total! No Helaena, no good Alicent dialogues, NO GWAYNE AND CRISTON!!! Not even two minutes of Aemond.

Jace, my new favorite!! I absolutely love how level headed he is! He is spitting facts left and right and Rhaenyra just doesn’t get it. She tries her best to gaslight him but he has none of it! Handsome with an actual brain.

The last scene is kind of ridiculous if you ask me especially Rhaeyra’s smirk like girl you just had dozens of people killed by a wild beast… be sensible please. Although they really gave her the girlboss move, I desperately hope they give her more flaws!!! Talking about the gods and not letting people out of there when Vermithor was cooking everyone while she was safe and guarded was good!!! MAKE HER INTERESTING PLZ!!!

I’ve talked about this before but I’ll say it again. I totally agree with how shitty they used us to get views and hype for the series. They saw how popular Aemond/Ewan got and they used it for their advantage and gave us absolutely NOTHING in return.

And ngl it feels like they’ve showed all of Aemone’s scenes in the finale episode with the promo video🤦🏼‍♀️

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Is it just me that kinda lost all interest in Aemond? It has nothing to do with Ewan, but with crazy aemondwifes. And now, with pictures revealed I truly don't care about Aemond as individual, I only care about him in terms of future relationship with Alys Rivers. That is all. With Aegon I want to see his scenes with Alicent, Cole, Helaena and his children and Sunfyre. Every picture of Aegon is captivating, TGC interviews are great, meanwhile Aemond is just sitting or staring at something which is boring. Also Ewan suffers from the same illness with Aemond as George with Daemon. Ewan claims Aemond was totally black in season 1 (based on what? being bullied and claiming Vhagar was him being black? accidentally killing Luke? Have we watched the same show?) and George claims Daemon is grey while on the show he clearly isn't. My guess is Aemond in Ewan's mind is different than what we saw and Daemon in George's head is different than we saw.

Hello!

Well, I can't speak for every person in the fandom but it is definitely different for me personally.

As for Ewan saying he wanted to present a completely black Aemond in season 1, it is important to remember a few things.

Firstly, actors don't have much control over the direction the story is taking. They film their scenes, sometimes doing different takes with different reactions - and then these scenes are put together to create the final product. Just remember Matt not being aware of the fact Daemon doesn't utter a single word during the whole Crabfeeder fighting sequence in episode 3 of season 1 - because apparently he did say something that was cut. Who even knows what scenes were filmed with Aemond for season 1 and ended up not being included in the show? At the very least, there was a take where Aemond has a cold and cruel expression on his face right after Vhagar killing Luke instead of the look of horror and kind of remorse we got to see.

Secondly, Ewan might have referred not only to the actual plot or to his character's moral compass but also to the emotional vibe we got from Aemond in the first three episodes we saw him in - and there hasn't been much positivity there, has it? Bitterness and hatred towards Rhaenyra and her children (justified but still), resentment towards Aegon (there's more to their relationship than that but still), impulsiveness and unforgiving stance etc. The only exception might have been a couple of seconds he shared with Alicent in episode 9. Mayhaps this season we are about to see at least some positive emotions coming from him?

As for the difference between the way Aemond and Aegon are being presented in the promo, there are several points to consider as well.

For now it looks like for the most part we've seen the bits from episodes 1-4 (that were shown to the press as well) - and in this part of the story the general focus in on Aegon, as it should be. His life has just changed dramatically: he is the King now, he has to assume the responsibility he evaded for so long, to reassess and in a way rebuild the relationships he had with the members of his family - and Tom talked about all of it in his interviews. At this point, and at least for some time, it's Aegon's story. So it's only natural we are getting to see so much of him in action. As for Aemond, his time will come later - so it wasn't even likely from the beginning that we would see a lot of him actually doing something (because of spoilers). Just compare the number of lines Aegon and Aemond had in the trailers - and I really doubt the latter will just be silently walking around all season. This is probably one of the reasons Ewan can't actually say much about his character without getting in trouble as well (besides him just being nervous and sticking to the safe things to say - and being the kind of guy who prefers letting his work speak for itself, as per Ewan himself).

Besides, Aegon and Aemond are two characters who are very much different: not only in their personality traits and attitude to a lot of issues but in their entire essence as well (I'm going to leave it at that for now, as I'd like to write a separate post about the Targtower brothers' dissimilarity), and in accordance with that Tom and Ewan are playing them differently. Aegon's face is very animated, and Tom is capable of demonstrating an insane variety of facial expressions - and this is indeed evident from pretty much every shot of him. Meanwhile Ewan, while possessing quite a range of mimic acting tricks himself (just remember Tom Bennett, for example), has about 80% of acting done with his eyes (singular at that in this case) - precisely because of the way his character is. And the true beauty and finesse of his portrayal could be found not in stills and half-second bits (that capture the spirit of Aemond quite well nonetheless) but within the actual scenes.

To conclude all that, if one's sympathies and preferences at any point move from Aemond to Aegon (or the other way around), it's completely fine - a matter of taste and all that. But I would prefer to gather my thoughts and draw conclusions after seeing the whole season (especially given that I love both Aemond and Aegon - and their relationship most of all).