#hotd comment

[sophiemariepl]

Okay, I know that I’m most likely gonna sound like a boomer, but hear me out:

Today’s HotD fans are a perfect example to me of what is wrong with a large proportion of modern audiences and the way people consume pop culture and media in general.

Ever since the premiere of the Season 1, I am becoming convinced that going beyond black-and-white perspective is… well, beyond capabilities of a growing number of folks out there.

Like, to so many of them it is either Team Black or Team Green.

Either Rhaenyra or Alicent. Or either Rhaenyra or Aegon. Either Daemon or Aemond. Either the Targaryens & the Velaryons or the Hightowers. Et cetera.

And once someone leans more to one side of the story, they just seem to idealize their team and completely demonize the other. Once you love Rhaenyra, she becomes the perfect heir, progressive and feminist, and Alicent becomes a cruel, back-stabbing b*tch and servant of patriarchy. And vice versa, once you prefer Alicent, she is a 100% victim of her circumstances with no agency whatsoever and Rhaenyra becomes a spoiled b*tch who is unable to make anything good out of her opportunities.

And it’s just so beyond the point for me.

People, this is not some football match where you pick your team and wish all the worst to the other.

It’s a fictional historical fantasy chronicle about a downfall of one of the greatest houses in the history of this universe. Nobody here is perfect to rule; in fact, every faction here is in one way or another bad and makes decisions that are just incompetent.

The whole point of George R.R. Martin writing about the Dance of Dragons story is to ask the question:

What happens when among all the heirs to choose from, none of them is good?

And let’s finally stick to that.

[horizon-verizon]

Rhaenys killing smallfolk is so…. Like wtf, and then people be like “Kinslaying is the worst crime there is! She’d be stupid to do it!”, first HOTD never introduces the notion of kinslaying, and killing hundreds of people is a crime too! She is already a criminal for what she did, why stop halfway if you’re going full murderer ? If you’re gonna commit a decapitation worthy offence, then you might as well kill the people who are a legitimate threat to your future great grandchildren and granddaughters themselves.

Them coming out saying that Rhaenys didn’t kill them because it’s not her war…. Lol, it was her war the moment she agreed to betroth her granddaughters to Rhaenyra’s sons. Her family (the little that is left of it) is in legitimate danger and she passed up the opportunity to kill people who WERE ACTIVELY PLANNING ON KILLING HER FAMILY ANYWAYS. (Yes, I know it was mostly Rhaenyra and Daemon but Jace and Luke and Joff would have to go too and Daemon is the father of Rhaena and Baela, the twins have legal claim to the throne, so no ways they letting that slide either).

Yeah, this has been my argument as well. I will never not be angry about this damned episode, esp this scene.

My biggest gripe about this fool of an episode is that if Rhaenys says she doesn't want to "be involved" in "their" war is that in ANY iteration of these events where Baela & Rhaena exist without turning this into a full-fledged AU like sweetestpopcorn's "The Black and the Greens", Rhaenys will ALWAYS be "involved"...

because those girls are DAEMON'S DAUGHTERS and ONE OF THEM LIVES WITH DAEMON AND RHAENYRA!!! And this Rhaenys constantly has said she primarily cares about her own kids and grandchildren, not Viserys, Daemon, or Rhaenyra...so what gives?!

In a world where these strategy-minded people would, you know, think strategy...Rhaenys practically spoon-fed them a public reason to go to war and assume a protective-justice persona!!!

To further paint the blacks as violence mongerers or even just shit-starters, even with those killed being peasants, bc the sheer number of people killed simultaneously who live around you & around your castle who have historically been a part of some Faith-led attacks against the crown (Aenys, Maegor, Rhaena & her brother Aegon--the Poor Fellows) is astronomical. Killing that many smallfolk doesn't pay and rather makes for a larger number of angrier smallfolk with a reason to be angrier than average. You'd think she'd realize that and idk, maybe not kill dozens if not thousands of smallfolk.

Otto will always look to them as possible rivals because of that connection to the person he thinks will likely always contend with him/anyone for power, espe after he includes the younger boys' hostage-taking in his terms in episode 10. Aside from Otto--who had a grip on Alicent's decision-making until it came to Rhaenyra (as if Rhaenyra doesn't come with her kids, who Alicent has accepted the risk of exile or total ruination for 10 years, but I digress).

And Alicent--by the next season's 2 trailers--appears to go back to Otto as a consultant and guide as to how the greens will face the blacks, so we can't argue that she will not escape his influence even with her allowing herself to understand his manipulativeness. She obviously didn't want a war and has tried to stave it off by holding Rhaenys hostage and sending that damned page to Rhaenyra with Otto's terms--that is if she actually sent it--she also sets up a possible war through usurping Rhaenyra in the first place! And Alicent isn't actually fighting against Rhaenyra for the sake of "the realm" but for for her own position as the mother to a possible king/wife of a past king and the lives of her kids.

Even in the book--if you are inclined to believe that she believes this and/or has sincerely taken Otto's fear of Daemon as her own maybe bc similarly to the show he instilled in her that fear of him--Alicent brings up Daemon's supposed bloodthirstiness and inevitable murder of her kids as reason to usurp Rhaenyra ("The Blacks and the Greens"):

As for the kinslaying part, they refused to insert Rhaenyra's lines of that, instead making her grab Otto's pendant and throwing it off the bridge in a much more flaccid version of what she does with Orwyle's chains in the book. Without the context of her giving Aegon that chance to withdraw AND criticizing Orwyle taking the green side and basically going against his own maester code of following traditions and laws, show!Rhaenyra's protests against Otto is more losing the desired cool & careful, wise reservedness that HotD already favors over original "proud" book!Rhaenyra. And I think that it's to give the Dance story this faux measure of "balance" that ozymalek talks about HERE:

People often argue whether HOTD showrunners are biased in favor of Team Black or Team Green. I think the answer to this question can't be encapsulated within the context of "bias", at least not fully. They are biased for both and neither at the same time and it's difficult to explain, but I will try to articulate how I see it. The Dance era in "Fire and Blood" is something that will fundamentally cause the feelings of cognitive dissonance. I think this is why people initially disliked this book when it first came out. It did not provide easy answers, it was written as a historical account, the in-universe historians were clearly biased. People, however, had trouble realizing who the historians are biased for and against. Team Green would have you think that "F&B" is biased against the Greens, because their allegiance as maesters clearly being to Hightowers notwithstanding, they could not evade simple historical facts: that most of the kingdom supported Rhaenyra, that Greens were horrendously misogynistic and that her usurpation was clearly wrong. That's why, approaching it from the "choose your favorite war criminal" point of view, it was difficult for Greens to accept that their preferred side is so cartoonishly evil - obviously bias must have been involved, even though the only pro-Black narrator of F&B is Mushroom, the rest are Greens. The maester's anti-Targaryen bias, however, manages to sneak in and mess with the reader's balance, causing said cognitive dissonance. It's hard to deal with it as a reader, let alone as a showrunner who's trying to adapt a story in which not everything is set in stone. They incorrectly assumed that, because they are constantly forced to question what is happening in the story, the bias is with the underlying idea that there was a correct side. As such, they assumed that all the inconsistencies result from maesters not choosing to view it that way. Ryan Condal repeatedly stated that he does not want watchers to pick sides, while George RR Martin embraces it and even encourages it (and I think that he himself has picked the Blacks). Such is our nature as human beings. So they decided that they have to balance the scales. Because Greens are poorly developed, they added more characterization for them that contradicts their book personas (abused child bride meow meow Alicent who is clueless about the plans that in the books she herself set in motion, for example) while simultaneously taking the characterization AWAY from team Black members. Rhaena and Baela barely have any lines, and though this may be the case of simple racism, it's pretty telling that they ignored the fact that Baela is tomboyish and has short hair. Rheanyra herself is so toned down that she does not resemble her book counterpart in the slightest, making her seem weak, stupid and undecided. Daemon straight up becomes a villain and a wife murderer rather than a throughoutly gray character (book!Rhea Royce unambiguously dies after a hawking accident while Daemon is still fighting in the Stepstones); that's because Team Black was in a desperate need for a corrupting influence in order to balance the scales. But some Greens aren't spared from this treatment either. Otto is made much worse than he was in the books, he straight up pimps out his teenage daughter so that he can elevate House Hightower. While Aegon is also a sex pest in the books, showing him openly rape a lowborn woman was a risky decision (as was the not very subtle implication that he rapes Helaena as well); not to mention that the child fighting pits come from Mushroom, whose entire gimmick is making shit up. So neither side is really spared from being villified and whitewashed, depending on whom we look. The showrunners were fully committed to making choosing sides a confusing process, making the cognitive dissonance of this story to be even stronger. This is why they aren't really biased for or against anyone.

[marysblo0d]

Fun fact: you can like both Alicent and Rhaenyra. You don’t have to pit them against each other just because the narrative does.

“But alicent did this” “but Rhaenyra” they would not have had to do those things if the men in their lives weren’t constantly pitting them against each other.

It is very much possible to be team women and say fuck you to the men who caused all these problems in the first place.

[jessaerys]

from a longer thing i may or may not finish

[your-gracelyn]

Trying to enjoy the new hotd trailers but knowing I’m now going to be subjected to the most brain dead, annoying, insufferable and overblown discourse/fan behaviour of my entire life again.

[nonbinarylesbianherb]

[sukibenders]

I get the appeal for Cregan and Jace, but I'm already nervous about how the fandom will treat Baela and her relationship with Jace as a result. Could both ships coexist? Yes, but this fandom has proven many times over that whenever a black person, specifically a black woman, is involved said ship is often overlooked or dismissed. This can be said for many of the ships in the show, which I've talked about, and Baela's treatment even outside of mentions of Cregan (I love Heleana, but it is not lost on me how some Jace/Hel shippers dismiss Baela). Like, this isn't the case for everyone, but enough for it to be very apparent. All in all, I just want the best for my girl Baela Targaryen.

[darksvster]

Excerpts From the House of the Dragon

"King of the Narrow Sea" — Season 1 Episode 4

Daemon chases Rhaenyra through the streets on their night out.

Details:

Draft Date: Jul 28, 2021 — Pink Pages

Teleplay by Ira Parker

Announcement & FAQ

[daenerysies]

link

“Baela shrieks with her father’s anger.”

“Jace the closest to Aemond in age —”

“Aemond puts his hands around Luke’s throat, throttling him.”

“You will die screaming in flames just as your father did.”

“…comes at Aemond, who readies the big rock.”

“He counters, smashing Jace’s face in with the rock.”

I’m gonna knock some teeth out ‘closest to Aemond in age’ and he was canonically 6 to Aemond’s 10. Jace and Luke were the only ones really involved with the fight in the book, and it’s stated multiple times that Aemond had the clear advantage over them and was beating them ruthlessly. It was a clear power play on his part that quickly turned sour because the younger brother feared for both his and his older brothers life (as he should, the kid was 5 fucking years old).

I know why they added the Dragon Twins to the fight, and it was solely to infantilize Aemond even further than they already had (and demonize the girls and the Velaryon boys in turn). Sure, I’m supposed to feel sorry for him because he was bullied for not having a dragon (boo fucking hoo); but I’m not supposed to feel sorry for the twins after they just lost their mother, considering how quickly that storyline was left in the dust to further Aemond’s. I’m not supposed to feel sorry for the woman and kids who were targeted purely due to their blood/gender (but that doesn’t matter ofc just that they’re bastards and harming poor helpless trueborn baby Aemond how dare they).

The agenda being pushed in the show is obviously full of microagressions against these kids — the Velaryons were made into POC just to make certain the audience knew that Rhaenyra’s first three children were bastards, and Baela and Rhaena were added to the fight to show them as the ‘true’ aggressors to the entire situation. It didn’t matter that they had lost their mom recently, it didn’t matter that they didn’t even know who Aemond was. They had one of the last living relics of their mother stolen out from under them by this random kid who immediately insults them to their faces for having the audacity to be upset, but HE is the victim here. Jace had just found out about Harwin being his bio dad and then lost him within a short amount of time. He was being openly mocked and told he and his baby brother were going to die in the exact same way at Aemond’s hand. But no, no! Don’t jump to the obvious conclusion; AEMOND is the victim here.

Four grieving children reacted on their extremely volatile emotions, with one acting on fear alone, and it ended poorly for all parties involved— who would’ve thought?

[sophiemariepl]

I know I’m gonna sound like a boomer again, but I really miss the times when we could appreciate a fictional character without having to morally excuse their actions. And yes, this is again about Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

(I know that someone already wrote it here, but I feel like we need to stress it out more.)

Like, one of the main reasons why I find the HotD fandom so annoying and unbearable is that way too many individuals active in it conflate how well a particular character is written with how moral they are as a person.

But here it does not even seem to stem from any good deeds that they do, as it was in the case of Daenerys fandom (or at least, most of the time it does not seem to stem from it). Here, basically, all that matters is personal liking towards the character - if someone likes a particular character, they immediately jump to idealize them. Almost as if people were ashamed to admit that they like a character that is morally flawed or imperfect??

I already wrote in one of my previous posts about the Rhaenyra-Alicent dichotomy which is a great example of this phenomenon in the HotD fandom. I’m not gonna repeat myself here, so if you wanna know about which dichotomy I’m talking, go check out this post.

Coming back to my main point that is complaining, I miss the times when people could freely admit that they loved the Lannisters specifically because they are toxic, cruel and cunning (maybe except for Jeoffrey, I think that Jeoffrey was less appreciated and more universally hated 😜). Because they still appreciated the way the Lannisters were written. The political mind of Tywin, Tyrion’s wit, Cersei’s and Jamie’s toxicity, and the complexity of their characters.

Did they commit awful things, either to advance their family politically or for their personal gain? Yes.

Does that deny that they were extremely well written, as three-dimensional, multi-layered people? No.

Of course, I’m using the Lannisters only as an example, because I cannot list every single character of that sorts in here.

Having given this example tho, it makes me wonder why people cannot adopt the same approach to HotD. What’s the problem with using it in one was or another towards Otto Hightower, Alicent, Rhaenyra, Corlys Velaryon and Rhaenys Targaryen, or perhaps even most importantly, to Daemon?

Does this approach make you feel bad about yourselves, HotD fans? Are you ashamed to think that you like a character that is actually an awful person? Or is it that you just assume that every character that you like has to be a morally good person?

I’m genuinely asking.

[horizon-verizon]

The show gives Rhaenyra's characteristic nervous habit of playing with her rings to Alicent in having Alicent shows her nerves through picking her fingers' skin, sans rings. But Rhaenyra/Emma D'Arcy, has no obvious outward expression of anxiety, whilst Young Alicent/Emilia Carey does (but not Olivia Cooke? where is the consistency?).

They gave Rhaenyra's canonical black/red dress reveal-and-entry to Alicent in her green-dress moment of episode 5. Rhaenyra's entry in canon is: her declaring political opposition to the already formed green faction; autonomous monarchial claim against Alicent and Otto's attempts to lessen the legitimacy of that; where she draws that claim from (the colors representing her house, her blood connection, and Viserys choosing her); AND her defying Alicent's domestic attempts at ruining her self esteem or disconnect her from her roots. It was her first real moment of triumph. Whereas canonically Alicent is one of Rhaenyra's antagonists; Alicent was the one who independently and intentionally used female chastity (a principle of sexual repression for women) against Rhaenyra to tarnish her reputation and public image in order to raise dissent against her and her prospective reign. And make her son seem even more desirable...which didn't work, as she continues and eventually has to imprison people to make way for herself and Aegon the Elder.

Second, not only does what HotD did steal most of Rhaenyra's agency and boldness to give to their diluted version of Alicent and incorrectly center her as if she were the protagonist of this story, it makes Alicent, of all people, the one who experiences the a central problem of this story: societal misogyny. It removes Alicent's accountability and suggests that Rhaenyra is the problem. That whatever Show!Alicent perceives Rhaenyra to have done (lied to her, didn't stay "chaste" like her by sleeping with a person outside of marriage, didn't recognize her queenly authority how she thinks she should...when all that actually matters is Viserys' word AND it is actually Otto who put her in the position she is in to fear absolutely knowing what that portion entails [as he thinks]), that is the wrong being done here....when it is really Show!Otto's ambition.

Some may say, after watching this show, that Rhaenyra should have observed her friend's anxiety as she was "talking" with Viserys...but Rhaenyra 1) lost her mother just a few months (presumably) earlier 2) is just coming into her heir duties and activities, one of which was her choosing her personal guard in the various candidates Otto tries to present to her, and we see in that particular point that she also had to come up against people doubting her, questioning her...why? because she is both young and female. It does not require much imagination to figure out that Rhaenyra was going through her own stuff that justifiably draws her attention away from Alicent, who could have also told her what was going on but didn't. 3) By principle, Rhaenyra was also developing her own life and growing into her own adulthood -- making a life for herself.

Where would she have the emotional bandwidth to catch everything going on with her friend in the face of all mentioned?! In relationships, we take turns to support the other. Rhaenyra is the one with less room to do something since her fears, duties, grief, loneliness, and prerogative to live all are present and probably emotionally overwhelming, understandably making her less aware of others when the are not either the focus or means to accomplishing those ends of monarchial duties or alleviating misery. Alicent is fully aware of what's happening and knows that it would hurt Rhaenyra' emotional and political position even worse to follow through without resistance...yet chooses not to tell her and maybe thinks of ways to resist, even with Rhaenyra.

And again, even that ambition is being denied to Alicent herself, who canonically drives much of the green cause by attacking Rhaenyra since the latter was 10 before the war begins until her grand moment of calling the green council.

Thirdly, all of these changes...just to ultimately create confusion in narrative direction and switch/reduce the philosophical and political priorities (are we against misogyny or against others having what we want but deny ourselves because we actually like the patriarchy that has actually victimized us?). We have fallen from criticizing how women with internalized misogyny target other women to gain whatever power a patriarchy seems to bestow them to what HotD gives us -- a woman not being rewarded by being "good" and compliant with the patriarchy, as if compliance is the answer to escape the suffering caused by the oppressve forces one is told to comply with and obey! So the message is that we should always follow and conform with unjust social hierarchies?!

The fourth problem with what HotD did is that in the writers' probable justification of not giving Rhaenyra her dress moment because viewers should already know that red and black are her families colors and that they will deduce that the blacks' name come from that, they reduced all of what I point out the moment meant in canon to it being "obvious" why the blacks are called the blacks.

Fifthly, the Hightowers' colors are not even green. If anything it would be silver or grey! And the firelight the Hightower tower basis the usual red, orange, and yellow in real life and in their sigil. So not only did they remove Rhaenyra's agency-practicing moment, they moved away from the fact that Alicent chose green independently as her own faction and cause' color. She was staking a claim herself, for herself! And as @mononijikayu says in the linked reblogs, green-as-the-color-Alicent-chooses thematically works to show how her own envy, greed, ambition, and tyranny subsequently has her lose all of her children and die alone and delirious. Similar to how Jaehaerys I's tyranny and misogyny against his own family causes him to be completely alone the day he died, as Saera was his only living relative aside from Viserys, Daemon, and Aemma Arryn, who all did not seem to care about the man one way or another nor were raised close to him.

This user/anonymous asker told me how some green stans give Daemon's narrative of self sacrifice for family and faction to Aemond.

The show refused to give Mysaria and Daemon his and Mysaria's grief over their baby's loss and a justification of anger against Viserys other than not being made his Hand, but it will very likely give Aemond an arc of passion with Alys Rivers and a pregnancy partially to mimic the "children having children" arc they gave to Alicent and partially to facilitate the idea of him making mistake after mistake from him maybe choosing "fuck duty", or just running from it (Ryan Condal's "theory of reactions and accidents") as this other user contemplates. Meanwhile, Mysaria and Daemon were always in a consensual relationship even if he was definitely exploiting her being in SW....and Alys was Aemond's war prize and sex slave, so there was no consent there--to all the shippers of the latter. (And if she did have visions, and she told Aemond that he should meet Daemon and where to find him....it is also very possible that she saw Aemond die....such a situation leads me to believe that this was not the sunshine and roses relationship many green stans like to think.) [8/30/23] AND the show cheapens Daemon's contention with Viserys after his habitation in Dragonstone to his just fucking around to fuck around, as this Twitter user named Branwyn the Half-witch says:

Mysaria’s pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage (which hardened Daemon’s heart against his brother) to Daemon just messing around for no reason. It removes any sympathetic or human motive Daemon has for his rebelliousness, and ditto for Mysaria.

Yes, Daemon loves his chaos to a degree…but that is to a degree and circumstantial. Viserys definitely committed wrongs against Dameon, which motivates Daemon to "act out" or ignore/defy him. Plus, as hamliet explains, there is a pattern of Mysaria being concerned or affected by the loss of children from her own loss of a child by Viserys forcing Daemon to abandon her. As a sex worker, she's not "allowed" to grow a family or obtain some sort of self-sustenance outside of the exploitative sex industry embedded within this patriarchal system. Thus, it is likely she targeted Nettles, arranged for Blood & Cheese to kill either Aegon or one of his kids, & gave away the information about Maelor to Heleana (triggering Helaena to kill herself) to strike back against any Targ...perhaps. [check out hamliet's breakdown of Mysaria's motivations for doing all she did after being exiled HERE] NUANCE!

The show made it much easier to see Rhaenyra as the aggressor against Criston....meanwhile it's too arguable that even as young as Rhaenyra was at the time (15), she'd ever go for Criston when you read the account (in order: HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE). That it was most likely Criston who wanted Rhaenyra and she rejected him while he tried something. It is especially important to note this part of the text I didn't include that is between the last two quotes I do give:

However it happened, whether the princess scorned the knight or he her, from that day forward the love that Ser Criston Cole had formerly borne for Rhaenyra Targaryen turned to loathing and disdain, and the man who had hitherto been the princess’s constant companion and champion became the most bitter of her foes.

Thus relying more on Mushroom's (the arguably most unreliable narrator and source for the events pre and during and post-Dance -- those who will try to make anything sexual and exaggerate just to self-aggrandize and attention) account of how Rhaenyra and Criston fell out......sure.

It refused to insert or to imagine any of Aegon and Aemond's pre-Dance misogyny towards Rhaenyra (an example) that would have existed following Alicent teaching them all how to view her. Or any of his pre-Dance viciousness: "Two years later, she produced a daughter for the king, Helaena; in 110 AC, she bore him a second son, Aemond, who was said to be half the size of his elder brother, but twice as fierce ("A Question of Succession"). Aemond's probable bullying of the V boys made into Aegon, his own brother, being one of his bullies despite this quote and its emphasis that no matter what Viserys tried, all five boys couldn't get along and that the green boys resented the V boys for taking what they thought was theirs.

But sure, we get Show!Daemon obviously kill his wife with a rock -- not even an assassin -- despite the fact that he was at the Stepstones, still fighting and preoccupied, when Rhea died and it took a few more days after the nine it took for her to die for him to even be notified of her death and travel to the Vale AND what we know about horses (reblogs of @the-king-andthe-lionheart's post....forgot to credit and tag). The same woman who would have, if she had been able to sit up and talk, immediately name foul play with her canon dislike of Daemon.

As I mentioned before above, this show even removes Alicent's biggest and game-changing, plot-driving, self-determined act to convene the green council while purposefully leaving Viserys' body to rot over to the council members acting under Otto and ignoring her until she has to yell at them, and even that is ignored as we see her wrestle against Otto to bring Aegon in. Instead of them working together to do so, illustrating further how a woman can work with patriarchal authorities and use the power the system allows her to block another woman. The most memorable thing adult Show!Alicent did was to gives her feet over to Larys to drool over in a very disturbing voyeuristic scene, just so she gets information...this show is even more misogynist and unrealistic towards Alicent than the book/the maesters could ever be, for the sake of making Alicent a victim instead of a woman who decided to use power for power's sake. Because apparently that's an anomaly or a sexist take...that women could hurt themselves, their children, the children of others, and other women who arguably are in similar sociopolitical positions for power.

And because they aged Alicent down, her kids are all supposed to be aged down, so that in itself can and has drawn more sympathy (whether intentional or not) for the greens for what will happen in the next season to them. And I mean for locals who've never read the book or just its account of the Dance.

While we get no other scenes of how Alicent and Rhaenyra even interacted and how their relationship became nothing (ignore Alicent of episodes 8-9, this is such a terrible switch up because it makes no psychological sense) during the time between the 6th and 7th episode, how Alicent would have a isolated, victimized, antagonized, and pressured Rhaenyra as we saw her do at the 6th episode's council. Because, apparently, these women can still theoretically become friends again even after all of this AND Lucerys' and Visenya's deaths?

But then you can't tell a good or fair story about a feudal family, about "generational conflict"...without showing how two of those generations....fought each other at home AND then at war.

[bohemian-nights]

It’s canon 🤣

Source

[aemondseyepatch]

incorrect house of the dragon quotes

[sourcherryandsprinkles]

A Song of heart and blood - part three | Daemon Targaryen x Targaryen!Reader

Summary: After an horrible prophetical dream, you find yourself traveling through time to try and save your sister, Daenerys, from her fatal ascension to the Iron Throne. During your mission, your heart derives you from your duty and you fall in love with your ancestor

Word count: 2.5k

Warnings: smut 

masterpost

A/N: I advise you to use a high Valyrian translator for the few words used, to get deeper in the feels

-

Daemon's fingers began to unlace the laces of your dress, working to remove it while his lips traveled to your jaw and neck, eliciting soft moans from you as he kissed your soft skin.

‘’Daemon.’’ You let your head fall back to give him more room to kiss, your fingers clutching at his muscled shoulder through his thin chemise.

He dragged his lips to your shoulder, kissing it tenderly as began to pull down the fabric of your dress, revealing some skin. Your heart was hammering away in your chest so hard it feels like it's gonna explode.

Why must something that feels so good have to be so wrong?

You ignored the little voice in the back of your head, and slid your hands lower on Daemon’s back and began to tug on his chemise. Getting the message, he released your face and lifted his arms so you could take it off of him. You threw it to the floor behind you and leaned back, taking him and his beauty in, just as he was taking you in right now. You ran your hands over his chest, touching every contour of every muscle of his uncovered warrior body.

In the glow of the moon, you saw the battle scars on his chest, shoulder and his neck; a large red-ish stain of hard ridges scarred tissue – a physical journal of his battles. You felt them under your fingertips, tracing the serpentine white lines. Were those burns?

You opened your mouth to say something, but you couldn’t find the words.

Catching your train of thoughts, Daemon drove your attention elsewhere, pulling you from the door and carrying you to the bed – his bed – before your breasts saw the light and he could take you against that door. His mouth reconnected with yours again as he sat down, his tongue prodding your lips to be let in and brushing with yours as your hands worked the laces of his pants. It was an inconvenient angle – you standing between his legs –, but you followed his lead.

Daemon’s hands slipped under the skirt of your dress, pleased to find your legs bare. He grabbed your thigh firmly, then pulled you down and adjusted your legs on either side of him. The fabric of your skirt had ridden up, exposing more skin than a woman ever should without being wed. He cupped your butt cheeks and pulled you flush against him, pressing his body into yours so you would feel the bulge in his pants rubbing you. You gasped, a foreign feeling that felt like fire coursing through your veins filling your whole body from your core. Was this the dragon’s fire?

Your reaction made Daemon pull away, leaving you breathless and turned on. He chuckled. ‘’Is this your first time with a man?'’

Your cheeks flushed, a silent answer to the prince’s question.

Daemon tried to hide his smug grin. ‘’Let me teach you the pleasures.’’ Your breath hitched as he ran a finger up your folds, feeling your arousal coating his finger.

‘’Ah,’’ you moaned, your face twisted in pleasure.

A raspy chuckle left his mouth, and then he did it again. You began feeling an ache between your legs, but it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it was very pleasurable.

Since you were a little girl, you've been taught the importance of your maidenhood and why you shouldn't have anyone who is not your husband take it. Men don't want someone who is not pure and untouched, Viserys always reminded you and Daenerys. But as Daemon's finger slid inside you, you felt no remorse that a man you weren't wed to would be taking your maidenhood.

A shockwave of pleasure shuddered through you as a gasp left your lips, your inner muscles clamping around him and making him prisoner. The fire coursing through your veins started burning hotter and the ache between your legs doubled. Daemon's mouth connected with yours again as you slowly relaxed and unclenched around his finger, allowing him to move inside you in a slow glide.

If his finger felt this amazing, you couldn’t imagine what his–

‘’Kessa,’’ you sighed through a moan, clutching at his shoulders and leaving crescent marks.

You didn’t notice your slip up of high Valyrian, but Daemon did – precisely his cock, who twitched in his pants when he recognized the tongue. He groaned and you moaned louder, grinding into his hand as he added a second finger, the fullness eliciting a curse from your lips.

The fullness didn’t last long, gone before you could feel the entirety of their pleasure.

A whine of dissatisfaction escaping from your mouth as he withdrew them, wetness coated Daemon’s fingers. ‘’Daor. Gaomagon jāre.’’ You gave him a glare, but the prince didn’t react.

You rocked your hips blindly, searching for a similar feeling, jolting when Daemon’s hardened cock pressed against your swollen clit – another new feeling. Your eyebrows knitting together, you tried to recreate the movement, mewling when you got it.

Chuckling at your neediness, Daemon finished working the laces of your dress and pushed it off of your shoulders, uncovering your shoulders and freeing your breasts. They were perfect in every way; soft and heavy, filling his palms as if they were made to fit there. He kneaded them softly, his thumbs brushing over your nipples as he did so, eliciting a moan from you.

A cool breeze was coming in through the open balcony doors, but you couldn't feel it on your skin, the fire burning too hot.

‘’Daemon,’’ you whined, begging him to do something else, the kissing and frotting and fumbling no longer enough. ‘’I- I need your cock.’’ You reached between your bodies, trying to pull him out of his pants, but before you could get what you wanted, you found yourself on your back, a soft gasp of surprise leaving your parted lips.

Daemon shook his head, pressing his hips down on yours, taking back his primal dominance. “If you want to ride a dragon, you have to tame him first.” He leaned down, his silver hair dangling in front of his face. “And believe me, it is not as simple as you might think.”

You slid your hands through his hair, looking right into his desire-filled violet irises. “We shall see, my dragon, we shall see...” An alcohol induced giggle left your lips.

*

In the middle of the night, a combination of movement and voices stirred you from your slumber. Forcing your eyes to open, you saw Daemon's naked shadow slipping on a silk robe while grumbling some high Valyrian as he walked up to the door to see what in the seven hells was going on at this hour of the night.

You bit back a chuckle.

He opened the door and spoke to a guard standing outside. Had he been there all night? Your cheeks flushed in embarrassment, realizing that he must have heard you.

You couldn’t hear what they were saying, still in a half asleep state. The guard’s reply had been simple, but unfortunate. Daemon nodded at the guard, then closed the door.

‘’What is it, my prince?’’ you asked, sitting up when seeing a frown on his face, having momentarily forgotten about your doings in the queen’s chamber a few hours ago.

The Queen had woken up screaming in agonizing pain, blood soaking her bedsheets. A huddle of handmaids accompanied by Maester Orwyle had rushed to her bedchamber upon hearing her screams, alas there was nothing to be done.

She had lost the baby.

The castle was in complete chaos.

The handmaids were running around to change the sheets and clean the queen’s bedchamber, ridding it of all traces of blood while she was guided to a warm bath to clean herself as she cried by herself. The king was in mourning in his corner – again –, having flashes of his past wife, Aemma, whom had gone through a few miscarriages herself. The princess was in conflict with herself, a part of her wanting to go to her old friend’s side to comfort her. They may have had a falling out, but she still had a place in her heart. In the Hand’s tower, Otto Hightower was in his office, thinking of the sorrowful news he was going to have to tell in a few hours to the members of the small council.

According to the whispers, the maester didn’t understand how nor what made this happen. It was beyond his medical knowledge. How could someone who is perfectly healthy in the course of their pregnancy have a misscarriage in the middle of the night?

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Daemon hung his head low, battling an interior crisis. Albeit sad for his brother, the loss of the future heir was in his favor as it strengthened his claim to the throne.

For you, the miscarriage of Aegon II had a whole other meaning. It meant that your mission was accomplished, that your sister was saved from her fated end. It also meant your time here was over and you could go home]. As great as going home sounded, you felt a bittersweet feeling in your stomach. Going home also meant saying goodbye to Daemon.

Without saying anything, you reached out, snaking an arm around his shoulders and cradling his head against you. A heavy breath left his lips as he pressed his face in your shoulder. You held back your tears, cherishing this moment knowing it would be your last with him.

*

The glow of the sun was coming in through the windows when you woke up this time, casting a golden glow in the room. Beside you Daemon was sleeping soundly, his facial features soft and relaxed as soft snores escaped his parted lips. They say Targaryens are closer to Gods than men; they might be right because, when you look at Daemon, his beauty is surreal – godlike.

His chest was rising and falling slowly, the thin sheets covering his body resting very low on his pelvis, below the sparse trail of silver hair, and not doing much at covering his dignity. Before last night, the sight of a man’s genitals would have made you blush, but right now it made you want to tear the sheet and, as Daemon had put it, ‘ride the dragon’.

With a lump in your throat, you retrieved your dress from the stone floor, wishing you could stay a bit longer. If only it wouldn't put so much in jeopardy...

‘’Geros ilas, ñuha zaldrīzes.’’

You wiped a tear as you slipped out of Daemon's bedchamber, ignoring the guard standing outside. The same one who heard your sounds of pleasures during your tangle in the sheets.

Fortunately, the castle was almost empty when you made your way through the corridors and stairs, only seeing a few servants. After last night’s event, everyone was most likely still asleep – or mourning. You had almost made it through the courtyard, when you were interpelled by none other than Otto Hightower.

Fuck.

‘’Ah, I was hoping to speak to you before your departure. I'm in luck, I see, catching you just as you are sneaking off.’’

You nodded your head in greeting. ‘’Lord Hightower.’’

The man stood tall, ‘’The night has been eventful, hasn't it?’’ he added, staring you down.

His judging eyes made you self conscious of the tangles in your hair and your rumpled dress. There was no hiding that you had spent the night in Daemon’s bed.

‘’I have heard of the queen's loss. Please send her my deepest condolences. I cannot imagine the pain she must be going through.’’

Otto gave you a single nod. ‘’I will. Speaking on the matter, I am not making any accusations, but how much of a coincidence is it that the evening you have dinner at the castle, something happens to the queen?’’

His words didn’t surprise you. You should have guessed he was going to try making a connection between you and the queen after he caught you coming out of her apartment last night. Your lie had not slid through as well as you had hoped.

Remaining calm was your best chance at getting away with it. ‘’You claim not to be making accusations, but your words contradict, Lord Hightower,’’ you pointed out, speaking intelligently. ‘’Please be more precise. Are you, or are you not accusing me of something?’’

‘’Pardon me to be wary of you, but you haven't given much information on your doings in King's Landing. One doesn't travel from Essos without any intentions. That is, if you did travel from Essos.’’ Otto raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘’I have spoken to a contact of mine who has lived her whole life in Essos and she has never heard of the name ‘Stormborn’.

‘’Essos is an immense landmass. With all due respect, it is impossible for your contact, whomever she is, that she knows everyone.’’

The scheming man hummed. ‘’As Hand of the King, I am only doing my duty. For what we know, you could be a charlatan, a threat to the crown.’’

‘’See me the way you want, Lord Hightower. My intentions with Prince Daemon have nothing to do with Queen Alicent – or anyone living here.’’

Otto laughed. ‘’Perhaps Prince Daemon should put as much effort into his marriage as he does with his whores. Lady Rhea has never set foot in King's Landing in their twelve years of marriage, but he invites his mistress to a dinner with the king. That’s an outrage to Lady Rhea’s honor.’’ There was venom and spite in Otto’s voice, pressing on his words with the intention to provoke you, to hurt you.

‘’Who Prince Daemon wants to bed is none of your business,’’ you defended, trying not to react to him calling you Daemon’s mistress. ‘’As for the dinner, the king himself invited me. I doubt he would have invited me if he did not want me at the table.’’

*

That last conversation with Otto confirmed your suspicions: someone had been spying on you. A woman, he had mentioned. Knowing that information, you had no other choice but to leave. Your life and the future were in danger. Men like Otto are bottomless. He won't stop digging and investigating until he found your true identity.

At the inn, you packed your small amount of belongings into your traveling pouch and left the last of your coins to the owner, thanking her for the room. She wished you well and, hood over your head, you headed to Blackwater bay through the Muddy Way where the fishermen and shipments boats were.

Traveling clandestinely was dangerous for many reasons – especially for a woman –, but you had no other choice. You weren’t wealthy enough to own a boat. This was your only way to get to Volantis.

You found a shipment boat who was crossing going east to the Narrow Seas and was planning to get on it, but a red dragon flew around over the bay. Caraxes screeched and your heart clenched in your chest, tears brimming your eyes.

-

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[thesunfyre4446]

you know, i just can't seem to be doing anything right.

i'm not allowed to comment on TB posts, but i should always be nice and respectful when they send asks & comment on my blog. (because they're allowed to go into my blog and send me asks! but i'm wrong for doing the same)

apparently i'm "only nice as long as you agree with me"?

i'm wrong for blocking blogs. i'm wrong for engaging with blogs.

i'm so done . i'm allowed to have my personal boundaries on the internet. you guys want to block me?? go ahead. if you'd prefer not seeing my posts just block me. that's fine.

[lovl3igh]

https://www.tumblr.com/lovl3igh/748217725348872192/team-green-in-new-promo-be-like-why-tg-should?source=share

These actors will literally be hated and bullied, what are you talking about? If you open Tom's interviews, he adores Aegon, Ewan adores Aemond. For God's sake…

appearances of actors aside cause they all are bullied for that, especially matt, ewan and emma and racists comments too (i'm saying that just to be clear, i will comment only on actors actions)

you mean the actors would be bullied for supporting tg and going against tb... like ewan for praising aemond? or tom describing how would he kill rhaenyra if he could? or olivia sympathizing with alicent? bffr

these are really some of least agressive tweets, but still negative towards tb actors:

calling real person a bastard for playing silly game (also harry was attacked for choosing maester over alicent but when ewan chose in one game daemon over alicent it was fine), making fun of their character's death, bethany was being eaten up for going tb while tgc did the same with tg and no one said a word, the insinuations that harry collett did sexual favors for the role of jace (mind you, he was 16!! when he landed the part and i'm not even gonna comment on harassing elliot that way, creating fanarts and ships luke x adult people with using 14yo elliot's face), being compared to animals, emma is being constantly insulted and misgendered by tg who hates rhaenyra and the same goes with phoebe cause they said one sentence in promo video...

i'm not saying tg cast don't experience that kind of behaviour, sure they do. while it's not true that they don't anymore speak praising their characters or tg cause they do, especially tgc. the truth is they didn't say anything here what would be worthy argument that aegon should be the king because it's simply not true. what could they say? "aegon is the man" doesn't matter, law of inheritance the crown doesn't work that way. "rhaenyra has three bastards" it's about her claim, not jace's. "daemon would be terrible consort, too close to power" sooo unlike aegon the rapist who actually would be a king? "rhaenyra slept with more than one man" you try to say it in 2024. what they can say?? the show and books clearly stated the greens are usurpers, the actors know their characters are wrong. ewan gave motives of aemond but the rest of them didn't even try that

i literally went on twitter to look for that kind of stuff and like i said - there's so many insults about actors' appearances but speaking only about their opinions about teams, what i see is team black that is being constantly attacked, especially the young ones and/or black actors. whenever they have their promo or speak well or team black there's always bunch of people who will attack them and i don't even count "they're boring" cause while it's stupid, it's not really an attack ig. while in case of bullying for appearance i don't go against one team, that's here it's very clear to me that tg stans many times crossed the line

actors still speak well on their characters and tg, so stop that bs, the problem here was that they didn't have anything to say. also sooo which one, they can't say anything to not be bullied or they show how much they love their characters? no mention that you can love a character and still see they're wrong lmao