#house targaryen meta

[alenablack]

This is deeply inspired by various conversations with some friends! namely Zöe (@/ladystardog) and @metalomagnetic , thank you both for encouraging my insanity about both of these families!

EXCEPTIONALISM

Both families think they are fundamentally unique and deserving of power, respect, and independence from other great houses/pureblood dynasties.

Examples:

Sirius parents were convinced that to be a "Black' made you "practically royal." A belief that seemed widely shared by various Blacks throughout history based upon they strict values and motivation to eliminate members who didn't upheld the family name - HP lexicon

The doctrine of exceptionalism in the asoiaf universe proclaims that Targaryens are other from ordinary men; this allowed them special privileges outside of claiming the throne. (Incestous marriages, claiming dragons, wide held beliefs that Targs didn't get ill as other men did)

BLOOD SUPREMACY & INCEST

Both families value bloodline supremacy/keeping their respective bloodlines pure. Although the asoiaf universe gives many more examples of incestous marriages to keep their bloodline pure we have canon relationships within the HP universe that show the Blacks also follow incestous marriages to keep their bloodline pure (Orion and Walburga are cousins through their fathers and would go on to have two children together)

The Black family's core value is blood supremacy as shown by their motto Toujours Pur "Always Pure" and while the Targaryen's aren't as outward there's many in universe examples of their share belief in blood supremacy; only allowing people with Targaryen blood access to dragons, intermarriage to keep power consolidated etc.

TRAGIC ENDINGS

This parallel was the first to jump out to me when making this essay; both families experience exceptional short lifespans for wealthy upper class families (and in the case of the blacks much shorter than the average wizard lifespan), and not only short life spans but often tragic deaths.

Examples:

Regulus Black: died age 18 by drowning/dragged under by inferi

Prince Aegon **the uncrowned": died age 17 killed by his uncle Maegor & his dragon Balerion. Died with his dragon Quicksilver.

Sirius Black: Died age 35, killed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange.

Princess Area Targarye: Died age 14, officially ruled as death by fever however witnesses claim there was moving creatures under her skin causing the princess great pain.

Nymphadora Lupin: Died age 25, killed by her aunt Bellatrix Lestrange.

These are only a few examples of each lineage suffering losses but a pattern of young often violent deaths is visible throughout both family trees.

FALL FROM GRACE/LOSS OF POWER

Both families suffer from hubris and a general distrust to outsiders which makes both of their eventual collapses interesting. In the case of the house of Black the family line ended due to infighting by various members joining opposite sides of a war, with most members ending at the hands of each other. In the case of the Targaryen's their line would continue for 200 years, however the power they held that granted them the throne was lost in one generation due to a civil war which ended the lives of 90% of the family as well as the total loss of dragons.

Both of these collapses can be contributed to outsiders working their way into the respective families; for the Targaryen's it was the intervention of the Hightowers and their various schemes that set the stage for a civil war, and for the Black's it was their alignment with Lord Voldemort that spelled their demise. Both families fought on opposing sides, violating the shared core value of family loyalty.

COMMON TRAITS

The similarities between the two families go beyond parallels of circumstances. The Black family and the Targaryen family both are described as passionat, confiden, and charismatic people. Many members of both households suffer from large egos and a reckless disregard for their lives, as well as a sense of superiority even among their peers.

Many members are known as powerful warriors/wizards and are sited to be born with innate abilities or genius. Both families are also described as otherworldly beauties, and despite their opposing color schemes are even depicted with similar features.

CHARACTER COUNTERPART

(*My personal opinions based on similar personalities and experiences*)

Bellatrix Lestrange = Daemon Targaryen (Both impulsive, powerful, loyal to a fault, violent, charismatic)

Andromeda Tonks = Saera Targaryen (disowned for engaging in relations deemed inappropriate by their families, built lives outside their respective families, never returned to the fold)

Regulus Black = Lucerys Velaryon (Both signaled the start of a shift in their respective wars, neither of them served as a strong political power but are important to the narrative, died young and tragically)

Rhaena Targaryen (daughter of Aenys I) = Narcissa Malfoy (Powerful women within their own families, uninterested in the lives of others beyond their children, inherently distrustful, withdrawn and detached)

Daeron I (the young dragon) = Sirius Black (Reckless charismatic warriors, considered talented but ultimately lost their lives due to avoidable circumstances, considered great by some but mad by others)

[hollowwhisperings]

Life Expectancies of Targaryen Sister-Wives: Introduction

after combing through the Targaryen family Phone Pole, i have discovered fewer instances of first-degree incest than expected: this is partly because, i now realise, the Targaryen Dynasty ITSELF was not very long at all (nor are the lives of its members, with very rare exceptions).

i have completed Lists on Targaryen sister-wives and almost completed a List on consorts who were 1st cousins/aunts/nieces. i did not bother trying to calculate how many times any given couple were not only siblinga/cousins but ALSO, say, 2nd cousins thrice removed, etc, because funnily enough my priority wasn't "how incestuous is this couple" but things like "when are Targaryen siblings married to each other, against their will or because of love?" (what implications can be found, when every instance occurs before either sibling has actually reached their majority?) and "how much of a factor is age, in the tragedies of House Targaryen?" (VERY, is the answer).

by deed and by design, House Targaryen had always isolated itself from the rest of Westeros: is it any wonder, then, that generations of children being raised by children resulted in their House's self-destruction? i did not explore the outside influences (maesters, small council members, Hands, disinherited uncles...) that survived each generation, here, because i actually kept in focus for once.

[franzkafkagf]

the funeral (a grotesque display of two queens’ grief, forced on them against their will) being interjected by images of aegon beating blood into a bloody ruin says something about how women’s grief is exploited and paraded around as a virtue while male grief is only allowed to exist in conjunction with violence.

female sorrow is expected to be public, dignified, and even noble, it serves as a symbol of quiet strength and resilience. otto uses it as a tool to gain sympathy for their cause. notice how he forced alicent and helaena into it, while he allowed aegon not to participate. wouldn‘t the king being at the funeral send a powerful message? yes, it would. but otto looks at aegon with contempt, the other councilmen and alicent do not know what to do with his tears. the realm cannot be allowed to see the king grieve. not like this.

male grief is denied its own space and validity unless it manifests in aggressive or destructive acts. aegon realizes this to some degree too— he lashes out publicly by killing the rat catchers. he shows his grief by being violent, by spilling blood.

the toxicity of it all is very effectively shown at the end when aegon is crying by himself. did he retreat there to be alone and finally let it all out? his mother is either letting him have that moment alone or she’s deeply uncomfortable with it and chooses to leave. no matter what motivated alicent in acting the way she did— the moment still reveals how male vulnerability is something people fear. it shows that even the most human expressions of pain are not acceptable for some.

[greenqueenhightower]

Rhaenyra realizing Viserys' own weaknesses as a ruler was wonderful to see: "He did not prepare me to fight!" Viserys undermined Rhaenyra's position as heir by denying her privileges that male heirs would otherwise have, and its toll has become apparent in this episode. I am glad Rhaenyra was finally able to voice it out. We are slowly taking Viserys down from his pedestal and I'm all here for it.

[winterprince601]

unfortunately for jon snow, the role of "dead girl haunting the narrative" is already occupied by his mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, grandmother and step mother x2 so he's going to have to be forcibly resurrected :/

[darksvster]

okay i was asked to post this on tumblr since i posted a mini essay about it on twitter so here it is, i added some more examples and elaborated on my points that i couldn't over twitter.

so, when i first watched episode 207 i thought it was weird how religious rhaenyra was, until ryan condal mentioned the cult imagery. now i think instead of the show making her paranoid and neurotic in the final arc, they're going to make her more of a cult leader figure.

i think rather than leaning into her paranoia and the idea of a "hysterical paranoid mother" after she loses her sons, they're going to have her drink her own kool-aid more and more. it's interesting that this is what emma and ryan discuss in this scene with the dragonseeds in the inside the episode.

i think it's interesting that instead of the show positioning her like "a leader amongst the smallfolk," this episode positions her in a darker light, like someone who is manipulating the people there for her own goals. and when vermithor turns on the bastards, she doesn't let them run, the guards keep them barricaded in.

she is literally enraptured by the fire in these scenes. now that she knows it's possible for others to claim the dragons, she has been vindicated and wants more. this is not a merciful queen who is reaching out a hand to the smallfolk, she's throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. after all, these are just smallfolk. bastards with no honor. ryan literally describes the scene as a ritual sacrifice.

and who do you conduct sacrifice for? the gods. but in this case, the gods the seven or the old gods, they aren't even just dragons, but the fact that rhaenyra sees herself in the dragons. she says as much in the literal pilot of the episode when viserys asks her what she sees when she looks at the dragons. she understands the power they wield.

she knows that their power lies in the dragons. but she doesn't reflect viserys' belief that they are a power that man never shouldn't have trifled with. she leans into the chaos and fire and blood of the dragons, we see that in the sowing, clearly.

rhaenyra inherited the worst of both viserys and daemon and that will lead to her madness. she's got viserys' strong belief in prophecy (one now exacerbated by her desperation).

we see that faith in the prophecy falter but never truly fade. rhaenyra has always taken is seriously, to the point that everything she's done this season is in response to the prophecy. her pacifism isn't just due to avoiding bloodshed. she makes it clear to jace that before plunging the realm into war she had to know there was no other option because of the burden of the prophecy.

even though daemon has never believed in prophecy or superstition. she's also got daemon's desire and lust for power and strength (something she confessed wanting specifically because daemon is a man when she was speaking to mysaria).

it's a great deconstruction of the chosen one archetype to have her drink this koolaid and believe herself the chosen one only to have that belief corrupt her. emma d'arcy speaks on this in their interview with gq when discussing rhaenyra's growing fanaticism.

I think something that has been happening for Rhaenyra throughout the series is a growing religious fanaticism. After her father’s death, there is this desire to be connected to him in some way. And losing him happens at the same moment as having her throne usurped. And so that thing that would have been such a direct connection to him is also stolen. So in lieu of that, there’s that searching [through] the histories. I think imagining that at some point her name will feature next to her father’s is in some way comforting, and I find it very moving to see a person who in grief has committed themselves to the history books. As the series goes on, I think we see her more and more invested in her faith. She returns to the old gods. I think all of these actions are in search of her right; the thing that she thought she had received from her father, she is looking for evidence again and again. And part of it, I’m sure, is a choice. I think sometimes in times of loss, we can choose the anchors that we are going to cling to, and her faith becomes one. But I think there’s a narcissism in it. I think her connection with her religion is about wanting to reinforce a divine right. And I think, looking at [episode] seven when this miracle takes place, and this man claims Seasmoke, I think she feels that it’s a gift from the gods. I think it’s what allows her to ride roughshod over Jace’s very legitimate concerns about his own status. I think it’s what allows her to stage a massacre, essentially. She feels that she is riding on the wings of her faith. But her faith, and her belief that she is the ruler that is supposed to sit on that throne, are completely enmeshed.

They continue:

What is going through Rhaenyra’s mind as she watches the Targaryen bastards be devoured and torched alive? I think she feels like a god. I think she feels super proud. I mean, I think it’s uncomfortable. I think there’s something, actually, also that ties into the religiosity — even being back in proximity to dragons, to that fire, is to somehow be living her birthright. To be soaking up the divine, somehow. And do you think that she feels as though the decision to essentially stage a massacre, as you say, is vindicated when the two new bastard dragonriders are found? Totally. Without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, it’s horrendous, but I think she is now this sort of emboldened fanatic, [and] I think she’s experiencing events within a far bigger timeline. She’s imagining the history books. And you know, what’s happening right in front of her is awful. But in 300-400 years, what will be documented is possibly a very short war; a huge civil war that was averted, that this was the first ruling queen, that this ruling Targaryen queen expanded the Targaryen’s ability to have dragons within their armoury.

emma's read on this supports what we see on screen when it comes to rhaenyra's newly found zealousness. the religious aspect could lead her to do things that might have been seen as atrocities by her. it could lead to mysaria abandoning her, her riders turning on her, and we would see more of that targ madness.

gods are mentioned several times in 207. first by addam, who says that the gods are calling him to greater things. rhaenyra has never been the extremely religious sort but, in this scene, she looks like she's had a moment of clarity.

importantly, rhaenyra doesn't know who addam's father is, or hugh's or ulf's. this is simply the first time in history that a non-targaryen (at least in her eyes) has claimed dragons. it's something that she believed impossible. it can feel like destiny to the desperate and she's been extremely desperate after losing daemon, rhaenys, and continuous loss after loss with no hope of recourse.

mysaria says that rhaenyra is lucky addam chose to bend the knee to her rather than himself. and her reply is that it is ordained. this religious vocabulary being used is intentional!

her complaint against the lowborn is that there is an ancient fealty from highborn houses. she essentially implies that bastards do not have honor. mysaria corrects her by pointing out that her legitimate half-brothers aegon and aemond aren't exactly delights, but that doesn't make rhaenyra see the light. instead she recognizes that there's fealty to be had from lowborn people too. the order of things have changed, as mysaria says, so she realizes that she can lift up people who have been historically stepped on and give power to the powerless, calling them her army of bastards.

but when jace calls this out, predicting that someone (perhaps hugh?) could lay claim to her throne if she legitimizes these bastards if not by name then by offering them the power of gods. obviously, jace's concern is real, his entire legitimacy lies on both viserys' past support and also the fact that he has a dragon of his own. if any bastard can claim one, what does that make him? but rhaenyra's response isn't logical. she believes that the throne is part of her and her son's destiny. their right.

for years, on some level, rhaenyra has believed that even though people have insulted her sons, they are full-blooded targaryens. she says herself that if she was a man she could father a dozen bastards, and as heir, she gives birth to three without hesitation. these aren't strongs or velaryons to her, her sons are targaryens.

but even when jace essentially begs his mother not to give commoners dragons, bringing up her past sins and pointing out his own struggle knowing that he's harwin strong's son, her response is somewhat cold. she says now that the gods have laid this in front of her and she has no choice.

the dragonkeepers call what she's doing blasphemy and note that it isn't the gods who brought the dragonseeds to her, but she herself has done that.

Dragonkeeper Elder: This is an abomination. You sent an Andal before a dragon. The judgment was delivered. Now you would send more. Rhaenyra: Ser Steffon Darklyn was the blood of the dragon. Dragonkeeper Elder: It was a blasphemy. He was no dragonlord. Neither are these. Rhaenyra: And yet the gods have set them before us. Dragonkeeper Elder: You have set them before yourself! The dragons are sacred; they are the last magic of Old Valyria in this sad world. They are not pieces on a board for the games of men. Our order will take no part in this.

to the dragonkeepers, she's using these bastards and dragons like chess pieces in her war. but to rhaenyra, who has seen addam claim seasmoke, it seems like this is a divine right — a sign from the gods. and that's proven again when hugh claims vermithor.

addam claiming seasmoke changed everything for her. she talks about claiming a dragon as a transformation, and, in many ways, this claiming has transformed her as well. she tells the dragonseeds that their purpose now is the end the hardships of war.

she paints a lovely image promising them peace at the end, but it is a wholly false image. with vermithor and silverwing now in her arsenal, there will be more suffering, more bloodshed. there are no promises of peace now that the war has been given to the dragons, not until everyone is dead. and if that happens, well, the gods willed it, not her.

in this moment, when she says "may the gods bless you" i have to wonder, is she talking about the seven? or the valyrian gods? or the dragons? i don't think she's fully in deep, but i can see the set up for a much darker storyline for rhaenyra rather than the book plot. every time her beliefs are proven or something impossible happens, that could reinforce her zealousness.

i have always said that rhaenyra is a combination of viserys and daemon, and i think that still. i think that she has both of their madnesses within her. as she loses more, the only thing she'll have to hold onto is that prophecy and the divine right she believes in now.

even this scene from the finale promo has over-the-top messiah, chosen apostles, last supper vibes. her saying "i have entrusted you with a power only few have known" as if she wasn't desperate for them and had no say in who the dragons chose. i love it!

honestly i'm totally here for it, i think it's an exciting direction to take. i don't think rhaenyra was always like this, she might have had the proclivity for it growing up under viserys' wing, but it's the war that's pushed her to this point. desperate people will turn to things like faith in order to guide them when the real world disappoints. i think it's a far more nuanced look at a sort of "madness".

and i'm here for the conflict that will happen with daemon as a result. i think daemon will be in direct opposition to this. he's NOT the type to follow cult leaders. this will be their conflict on top of the existing power struggles. this, to me, is far more interesting of a struggle as opposed to nettles causing romantic tension. this show has a tendency to lean away from harmful stereotypes about women. pitting woman against woman is one of them, as is the hysterical woman.

daemon dying for her could be a form of devotion, or perhaps even a command from a delusional rhaenyra who believes he will survive it. daemon could end up drinking the kool-aid too after the devastations of the war or simply realize that this is the last thing he can offer to someone who is too far gone to be saved.

THIS IS THE FIRE I WANT FOR RHAENYRA. this is the mad queen setup that we could have had! targ exceptionalism and completely going off the deep end as a way of coping with an unwinnable conflict. without viserys, without rhaenys, no one is there to temper the fire within her.

[thequeenintheeast]

Rewatched Viserys dinner speech and Alicent and Rhaenyra look sad and like they believe him. Aemonds not even listening because he stopped thinking of him as anything to him the night he lost his eye. Aegon and Deamon look at him with doubt and irritation when he says he loves them all so dearly and apparently Haleana does too but her shot was cut.

The only people listening carefully are Rhaenyra and Daemons kids because they have been living in I’m so sheltered land for the past 6 years on Dragonstone and they believe his words at face value.

Also luke started that dinner fight. Aemond was literally staring into space and luc started laughing at him rudely. I loved the fight sequence because Aegon stopping luc and baela from intervening was like no 4 on 1 this time bitches let’s see how Jacey can do 1:1. Aegon clearly did feel guilt for the night Aemond was maimed weather his mother shamed him or not.

Team Green kids are mad but god damn are the Team Black kids spoiled entitled brats.

[alicentwhore]

Okay we’re all making jokes about Daemon’s little Oedipal episode but I do think it is a really good way to show just how the Targ incest-superiority-exceptionalism fucks everyone in this family up. You get taught literally from birth to find romantic and sexual intimacy in your familial relationships.

You’re Daemon. You’re a son so you ought to marry your sister. But you have no sister, only an older brother who REALLY ought to have a sister to marry. And this is how things must be. Your parents are brother and sister, THEIR parents are brother and sister. It must be brother and sister but you have no sister. Do you become the sister then? But you can’t, because that’s wrong too. You are a son, you must be a son and act as a son. And you should love your brother as only a brother. And this is how things must be. But how can you when you’ve been taught not to? How can you when you know if you had been a girl, you wouldn’t be allowed to just see him as a brother. He is your brother. You should have been his wife. But you never can be. And this is how things must be. You never knew your mother. But she is a woman and she is related to you. And haven’t you always been taught exactly what that means in this family? You’ve crossed so many boundaries but now suddenly there is a line. You don’t think you really want her in this way. But you never knew her and you don’t know how else to show love in this family. You don’t know how to love her as family in a life where family means lover. Except when it doesn’t. And gods forbid you cross that line and desire your family in a way that is suddenly wrong. This is how things must be.

[qyburn-in-the-black-cells]

no actually, rhaenyra hearing i’m a bastard from both her eldest sons and being unable to reassure them is so painful. luke might’ve couched the statement in insecurity about his abilities which she can soothe but there’s no way “it should’ve gone to ser vaemond” would’ve come out if he believed he was legitimate. with jace she says nothing because there’s nothing she can say. like alicent has nothing to say to aegon other than “you imbecile.” personal and political lives are one and the same in westeros. alicent first fails her children in the personal. rhaenyra first fails in the political.

[vampire-exgirlfriend]

Can we please talk about the insanity surrounding the discourse around Aemond and the brothel madame? She is not his abuser. She is a survival sex worker who was absolutely not in any position to deny Aegon when he took Aemond to her establishment for the first time when they were 12 and 15, respectively. This woman is a victim of this society in the way that all women were, except that it’s amplified ten-fold because of her profession and her status as one of the small folk. 

She’s not a predator. She’s not prowling the streets for young virgins to deflower. And it seems like this takes just reeks of ageism in a lot of ways. A member of the royal family, the potential heir, if talk was to be believed, came to her establishment with a purse full of coin. It’s transactional, yes, but are we really going to act like she, or anyone who worked there, really had the option of telling Aegon no? Would it have been less awful if Aemond was essentially forced by a family member to lose his virginity to someone that you personally found more in line with your beauty or age standards? Because that is what is comes down to. Aemond didn't want to fucking be there, Aegon thinks he's getting cool big brother points via psycho-sexual trauma, and whoever ended up in that room would have been a tool in that trauma. Would it be easier to stomach if that woman wasn't clearly older? If you found her more attractive?

And in the scene in s2 e2, it’s not her infantilizing Aemond. This is what he’s paying for! This is what he wants! This is the kink that he’s choosing to play into, and she’s doing her job and securing her safety and leaning into the protection that being a favorite of a royal man offers, however tenuous that may be. How are we supposed to fault her for doing her job? For taking her own safety and standing seriously in the face of royal patrons? We’ve seen time and again in this universe what happens to women who deny those same whims. Do we just expect her to fall on some sort of moral sword that wouldn’t have even existed then?

Like this kink of Aemond’s isn’t for everyone. You don’t have to like it, it doesn’t have to be your thing. And I get the feeling it’s unraveling a lot of head canons that have popped up over the last two years of waiting, which is why people are getting so weird over it. But to just paint this woman attempting to survive with the brush of a sexual predator is really gross. She didn’t seek him out, Aegon brought him to her, and we know from Viserys screaming at Daemon in s1 e4 that this is probably a common practice within that fucky ass family. One of the major points of this story is that the small folk have no protection, no standing, no recourse. How could she have denied them? It’s explicitly stated when Mysaria is talking to Rhaenyra that people like her, like the madame, have absolutely no protections. And that’s not even taking into account the public hanging of the rat catchers. This is what happens when royals and those in power are angry - the small folk are fodder for their power trip. This is what the entire episode was about.

You can have your icks (though I’d encourage you to ask yourself why her age and profession bother you so much), but to say the person that yucks your yum is an abuser and a predator is just way out of pocket in this scenario. 

[serymn31]

I could write thousands of words on this scene alone. They didn't talk, but they acknowledged each other. Consider that just before this, Aegon most likely killed Blood with his own hands and took his revenge for their family - for Jaehaerys, but also for HER. After this, he fired Otto as hand... the man who thought of their son's funeral as a PR move and subjected Helaena to that ordeal in the first place. He does not comfort her in the traditional sense but in the only way he knows how, by vengeance! And it's heartbreaking! Something like, I have failed you, but I will pay it back a hundred times over for what they did to you.

I absolutely love Tom and Phia, who had to petition and FIGHT to have more scenes together. We only got TWO (I hope I'm wrong here). They both gave it their all and they love and understand Helaena and Aegon more than the show's crap creators. That's just sad but word from the street says that this is their last scene together. This scene alone at the stairs is probably the most gut-wrenching scene in television and they aren't even talking.

[alenablack]

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about these characters so enjoy the insanity!

‘The Spare’

Both Daemon and Ron exist as spares for their family inheritance; in the case of Daemon he is only second in line for a majority of his life while Ron exists as the sixth son, however both experienced similar feelings of jealousy and inferiority due to their status as a ‘spare to the heir’. Being born into families of royalty (in the case of Daemon) and the wizarding version of ‘nobility’ (in Ron’s case) there is an added pressure to still perform for and defend their respective families despite their internal conflict.

‘Prone to fits of jealousy and rage’

Both Daemon and Ron experience emotional outbursts, almost always as a result of feeling unwanted or undervalued. Daemon is prone to physical aggression and overt displays while Ron lashes out at friends, family and attempts to soothe. Interesting both of them have a cycle of running away from the conflict and coming back to the source of their hurt feelings.

Core value: Loyalty

Despite the feelings of inadequacy and jealousy both Ron and Daemon are incredibly loyal to a fault, even to their own detriment. In the case of Daemon it results in the loss of his life and for Ron it is the death of his brother and prosecution of his family for his loyalty to Harry.

‘Excellent strategists but emotionally inept’

Both Daemon and Ron are shown to be strategic and valuable members of their respective factions for this ability (Movie Ron suffers from Hermione favoritism which is why we’re shown less of his cleverness, not to mention his status as a chess prodigy), however Ron and Daemon seem emotionally inept when it comes to the feelings of others. They can be quick to lash out and are prone to cruelty when they feel emotionally vulnerable or threatened. They also suffer from emotional blindness in relation to the feelings of those around them, especially in the case of their loved ones.

‘Attaches themselves to the person they envy and covet’

By far the most obvious and glaring similarity between the two of them is their relationship’s with the source of their feelings of envy and jealousy. In Ron’s case we have Harry, who Ron values as his best friend and brother while also feeling inferior and insecure about the value that Harry is given by the wizarding world as a whole. In Daemon’s we see this relationship happen firstly with his brother, King Viserys, and later with his neice and wife, Rhaenyra who replaced him as heir to the iron throne. Daemon values family above all but often lashes out towards them when faced with his own inadequacy.

[dragonpotter]

i see so many people be like "hmmm is rhaenyra actually fit to rule? because if she were, she would have done this and this and that"

... were any of the men in hotd/got fit to rule, though? was viserys fit to rule? was robert baratheon? the king named rhaenyra his heir. that's all there is. that's a monarchy! she shouldn't have to be fit to rule or do anything else really. rhaenyra having to prove herself fit to rule when not a single man has ever had to do that, her being held to highest standards just to have the same thing they did is sexism plain and simple.

if rhaenyra was exactly the same person but had been born a man, nothing (s)he ever did would be an obstacle to her (his?) claim of the iron throne. and when a modern audience doesn't see that and wants her to prove herself worthy when no man has ever needed to do that, there's no excuse anymore. the world she lives in may be way more sexist than ours, but the audience watching the show is living in the 21st century. and if a woman is expected to do more than a man just because she is a woman, that's misogyny! hope that helps!

[franzkafkagf]

do NOT think about jaehaera targaryen that shit will kill you.

do NOT think about how this little girl saw her twin being murdered, saw her mother fall deeper and deeper into depression. how this little girl saw her father rage and drink and then burn and fall from the sky.

do NOT think about how she didn’t see him for so long while he was recovering. how she, maelor and aegon ran from king’s landing, how scary that must’ve been.

do NOT think about how scared and alone jaehaera must‘ve felt like the entire war. not knowing who in her family lived and who didn’t maybe it would‘ve been better not to know.

do NOT think about how jaehaera and aegon met up again in king’s landing. how she probably didn’t recognize him. how she learned her brother and mother and uncles were dead.

do NOT think about how she must‘ve felt like after aegon was poisoned. how her grandmother asked her to slit another child‘s throat. do not think about her marriage. do not think about how she fell and what came after.

[greenqueenhightower]

The ending scene at the sept is peak cinema to me because it frames inescapable tragedy as one possibly averted had Rhaenyra and Alicent not let that chasm deepen between them, and had they put aside their pride and differences and met sooner. There is now nothing left to be done and for the first time, they realize just how powerless they are in stopping the current from sweeping everyone away. They leave the sept discovering that lighting candles doesn't bond them anymore, as they have each previously lit the fuse of the dangerous war that will devour all of them, with their own hands.

[winterprince601]

i don't know how else to say it: jon snow comes from two long lines of reckless magical bullshit and is basically a melting pot of feral royal blood but that's less important than the fact that he was raised by ned stark.