I finally got why I love so much the "dragons are gone" ending in the books while I hate it in the movies:
The books set the dragons free.
The movies simply sent them away.
That's basically the idea but I had a vision yesterday at 3am so I will be getting into detail below the cut.
The books have a very strong message about slavery. Some would say that it is a concept that is only important within the context of the last five or four books, but the ones that have been paying attention to the saga as a whole knows that there are things happening in the background. You know, stuff like
People eating dragons
People stealing dragons from their families so
The dragons can serve the vikings
And they're expected to obey because
People threaten to turn them into bags.
That's mostly the first book.
Dragons are constantly showed as unsatisfied with the status quo trough out the books, some more annoyed with the vikings than others. We have complete monologues from different dragons before the war is even a possibility. Sincerely, when it happens, it feels natural.
The idea of freeing the dragons is not one that comes up in the last book, not even close. The first time it is considered an option is in book 9 (I think), and, by the time being, we've already stablish lots of concepts as slavery within human beings, the dangers of a war, how this could lead to the end of all and freeing the dragons is the only option.
It is fatalist to say the least, but it's not going out of nowhere. There is a lot of worldbuilding (more on that later), but it is also the right thing to do. By the time Hiccup is presenting the option, Cowell has made us root for the dragons to be free and wild and do whatever they want, even if what they want is to hide under sea for thousands of years. Or if they don't want, or if the want to but just not in that moment, they can do it.
Oh, yes, because they leave GRADUALLY.
It is a sad ending, but still manages to get as satisfactory because, yet again, we know this happens and the books remind us this will happen eventually every time they can. “There were dragons when I was a boy” is literally the first phrase in the saga.
And then we got the movies.
The movies never followed the books. Like, not very much. The writers decided that they wanted to tell a story of a broken relationship between a father and a son while using dragons, the heroic and prophetic aspects of the books were getting on the way of that and they scrapped the idea. So, no, you can't tell me the movies actually follow the books.
However, if you're very technical, you know the Hiccup we see in the movies resembles Hiccup I, the one that stopped the war between vikings and dragons in the books, stablishing an equal relation between the two races. And this idea of the movies being a prequel can work for the second and specially the first movie, disregarding the fact that there are no prophetic or magical elements at all.
But THW exist and... Exist.
Suddenly the writers and producers decide that they want to follow the books and want to get rid of the dragons, something that is completely against the message of the other two movies.
(I am just talking about the movies, the shows-books relationship is very different and I will someday make a post ranting about it)
The movies do NOT talk about the dangers of dragons being with vikings or how the vikings mistreat the dragons or how bad is slavery or anything like that. The second movie does, yes, but the second movie also sends a message about how people benefit of being with dragons. They have their dragons and they're strong because of that friendship. Being at war with one another only brings loss and suffering for both bands while being together promises an actual future. A bright future that no one imagined before the first movie and that now they cling to.
Dragons and vikings are friends and together cand do basically anything.
That's a very strong message, you know?
And you know what? The third movie decided that such a strong and important message about friendship should leave the franchise completely.
“Free the dragons” it's a concept that doesn't fit with the movies. They're not slaved, they're not away from wildness and, most importantly, they CHOOSE to be with the vikings in the first place. They are already equals, they can do what they want and, you know, they are with the vikings because they want to.
But no, let's do a movie about letting friends go as if it could actually fit in the saga.
(I know it could actually fit but the execution was terrible).
As I said before, the movies resembles Hiccup I befriending dragons and we know how it ends. And someone who has never read the books will go and say "well, it was bound to end that way, why are you mad?” I tell you the difference right now: there's 1000 years of difference between the befriending and the parting in the book, 1000 years in wich we witness the deterioration of said friendship (from being friends and equals to being slaves). That's no what happens in the movies. The films give us 6 years and the only deterioration is within Toothless' character and how they made him a horny dog.
The dragons shouldn't have leave. This was a whim from the writers that thought that ending both stories the same way would be cool. It isn't. At all.
Long story short, it doesn't fit thematically. The movies and the books have different themes with different concepts and different characterizations of the dragons. While the books got story building and present the theme's since the beginning, the movies get it out of no where ignoring the themes in previous works.
Anyways, go read the books they're jewels and the ending isn't as shitty as thw make it look
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A Local Delicacy
or the fic where hobie stares at pav and misses all the vital information
(please pay attention to the tags ✨✨ no cw's for this one)
"Wha's this thing called again?" Hobie frowned at the small, inflated crisp looking thing.
'It's called a Pani Puri, stop being so difficult," Pav reached up to hit him on the head, failing not so miserably. Hobie wanted to laugh at his disgruntled face. It had been a hot minute since they had hung out. Plus, Miles could probably use a break after the entire 'destabilising the multiverse' debacle. Pav had immediately dragged them to a nearby stall stacked to the top of the colourful umbrella with these Pani Puris, while blabbering non stop about foot traffic.
Hobie supposed some things transcend universes. Like crowds. Stray animals in narrow alleyways. Rude people. Rude cops. His crush on Pav. Capitalism. You get it. Hobie was broken out of his thoughts by the stall keeper handing him a tiny leaf cup. It was 5 centimetres at most.
"What are these for?" Gwen asked.
Pav smiled. Hobie's heart skipped a beat. "For eating. You'll see." He answered cryptically.
"Thoda time lagega beta, abhi kate pyaaz khatam hogaye," The stall keeper started chopping onions at the speed of light, his knife clacking against the ratty wooden board.
"Koi nahi kaka, aap aaram se karo," Pav bounced on the balls of his feet, replying to whatever the stall keeper said, in his sweet voice. Hobie loved when Pav spoke Hindi, there was something so flowy about it.
"What did he say?" Miles asked. Hobie was curious too. He only caught the heavily accented 'time'.
"He said it's gonna take a few mins, he just ran out of onions."
"That cutting board does not look hygienic," Gwen said, as Pav manoeuvered everyone to stand in a loose circle around the vendor.
"Arey bahut saaf hai beta! Very hygienic!" The stall keeper nodded at her, now chopping coriander. Gwen went red. Miles burst out laughing.
Pav looked embarrassed as well, and Hobie wanted to just. Hold him. He'd settle for standing close to him as he tried to sputter out something.
"Bura mat manna kaka, aapko pata hai yeh videshi log kaise hote hain." Pav scratched his neck, flashing a winning smile at the vendor and Hobie felt something stab in his heart.
"Chalega chalega, badi hi gori dikh rahi hai, pata chal gaya yahan se nahi hai." The stall keeper said while arranging the dishes around. "Uske liye kam tikha dun?"
"Gwen, do you like spicy food? Miles?" Pav asked.
"Nope." said Gwen as Miles nodded.
"What about you, Hobie?" Pav turned to him, his deep brown eyes glinting something pretty in the late afternoon light.
"Sure, why no'." Hobie shrugged, a grin inexplicably tugging at his lips. Pav turned back to the man, saying stuff in lilting tones Hobie didn't understand.
The stall keeper nodded, and cracked open one of the crisps, scooping peas and potatoes inside it and adding the green liquid and onions inside it. He swiftly placed it in Hobie's cup.
"Tha's it?" Hobie was unimpressed. This little thing?
"No, bro, you gotta eat it to get more. Put it in your mouth all at once. Don't nibble at it, or it'll get soggy and get all over your clothes." Pav said, entirely shoving his own Pani Puri into his mouth like a visual example of what to do. Hobie looked at the Pani Puri in his cup for half a second more before deciding to fuck it and copied Pav, mouth closing over the stuffed crisp.
Flavours exploded on his tongue. The sweet tanginess, the crunchy onions and the spicy peas; it was nothing Hobie had expected it to taste like and nothing like anything he had eaten in his life. He chewed, feeling the bits of the crisp puri poking all around his mouth, but that was the experience. It felt otherworldly yet somehow fulfilling. Hobie automatically extended his hand for another one.
Gwen got hers, stuffing it in her mouth, with no small amount of trepidation visible on her face. It was valid, considering she started coughing the moment she chewed it, going 'hoff, hoff, hoff!' which Hobie took to mean 'hot, hot, hot!'.
"Goddamnit Gwen, how are you gonna eat dinner with us?" Miles said easily eating the puri without breaking a sweat, his Puerto Rican taste buds used to the level of spice.
Gwen glared at him, face red and sweat dripping. "Can't you cook unspicy food for me?"
"Mami will never let you in again if you eat like a white person,"
"I am white."
"Yeah, and?"
"Hooo- kaay! Calm down children! Gwen, we can go get a kulfi for you later. Miles, stop antagonising Gwen," Pav made a 'chop' gesture at them, shaking his head frantically.
The vendor had plopped another one in his cup and was holding another one in his hand waiting for them to finish bickering. Hobie ate it, only a few drops of the green liquid spilling on his fingers. And the next one as well. And the next one. This street vendor was so fast, the fuck? With only Pav and him at the stall, because Miles was busy with Gwen, the vendor seemed to make three for each one Hobie ate. Pav didn't look bothered at all, scarfing down every one as it came.
"'oly shit, Pavi, ask 'im to slow down, 'M strugglin' 'ere, mate," Hobie managed to speak in between the positive barrage of puris.
"No way, it's part of the vibe, dude, keep up," Pav was way more graceful, easily talking between the Puris, time seeming to favour him and him only.
"Seriously?" Hobie muttered on the tailend of a particularly large Pani Puri. Pav grinned again, his right canine getting caught on his own lip. Hobie was well aware that he had a staring problem, and if he didn't get himself together, Pav will be too.
"Okay, okay," Sometimes Pav looked at Hobie in a way that had him swearing his feelings were requited, and this was one of those looks that made Hobie wonder how he's still standing up straight and not a puddle on the floor like he felt on the inside. "Kaka, thoda ahistha dena, Hobie bhi yahan naya hai."
"Theek, theek, beta," The vendor laughed. "Apke aashiq ko impress toh karna padega."
Pavi choked on his Pani Puri. Hobie turned to him concerned, as he said something in 3 octaves higher than his normal voice.
"Kaka- aashiq nahi hai woh- hum bas dost hain," Pav said, wiping tears from his eyes with his sleeve.
"Meri beti bhi apne bf ko dost bolti hai. Woh dono bhi ek dusre ko aise hi dekhten hain. Usko lagta hai mujhe nahi pata lekin ham bhi toh aapke umar ke the," The vendor winked, and Hobie was sure this conversation was not about anything he could imagine. Why on earth would this random man be winking at Pav? "Aur hum yeh bajrang dal jaise vishwas nahi rakhte, pyaar toh pyaar hota hai na?"
"Ji kaka." Hobie could see Pav's blush that seemed to radiate because why else Hobie would feel flustered too? "Ahem," Pav looked at his wrist like he was looking at the time, except he did not have a wrist watch on. "Kaka abhi hame jana padega- chemistry coaching hai- kitna hua?"
"Itni jaldi? Theek hai, sukhi puri lelo," He said, handing over two flatter crisps. Without the liquid. Hobie felt it was easier to fit this in his mouth after all the other Pani Puris. "Sath rupay hue,"
"Kya kaka, angrez dekhte bhau badha dete ho? Main akele khata toh chalis ka hota," Pav said, his voice taking a complaining tone and Hobie was surprised to find him even more endearing.
"Beta, jab aap dhanda karoge tab samajh mein ayega, abhi apko coaching nahi jana?"
"Han, kaka, din dahade loot lo," Pav said, and Hobie got a sense of defeat from his slouch, as he forked over what Hobie assumed was the price of the Pani Puris. "Let's go, before uncle embarrasses me in front of someone."
"You paid money to your uncle?" Hobie thought it'd be easier to get around in Earth-50101 as time went on, but here he was, getting more questions and no answers as he hung around.
"He's not actually my uncle, I'm calling him that out of respect. It's a cultural thing, don't worry about it," Pav answered, grabbing Hobie's hand as he wove between the forming crowd. Hobie sighed, letting Pav drag him around, his hand warm in Pav's soft palms.
___
i have nothing to say.
translation (not literal translation bc then id have to explain a shit-ton of grammar, slang and indian pop culture to yall):
Thoda time lagega beta, abhi kate pyaaz khatam hogaye - it's gonna take some time, [I] just ran out of the chopped onions
Koi nahi kaka, aap aaram se karo - no problem uncle, take your time
Arey bahut saaf hai beta! - oh its very clean, kid
Bura mat manna kaka, aapko pata hai yeh videshi log kaise hote hain. - please don't be offended uncle, you know how foreigners can be like.
Chalega chalega, badi hi gori dikh rahi hai, pata chal gaya yahan se nahi hai. - It's okay, she looks very light skinned, [I] assumed she wasn't from around here.
Uske liye kam tikha dun? - should [I] make it less spicy for her?
Kaka, thoda ahistha dena, Hobie bhi yahan naya hai. - Uncle, please slow down [the pace], Hobie is new to this too.
Theek, theek, beta - Alright, kid
Apke aashiq ko impress toh karna padega. - [I know] you have to impress your boyfriend.
Kaka- aashiq nahi hai woh- hum bas dost hain, - Uncle- he's not [my] boyfriend- we're just friends,
Meri beti bhi apne bf ko dost bolti hai. Woh dono bhi ek dusre ko aise hi dekhten hain. Usko lagta hai mujhe nahi pata lekin ham bhi toh aapke umar ke the. - My daughter also claims her boyfriend is just a friend. They look at each other the same [way you do]. She thinks I don't know [about them], but we [adults] used to be your age.
Aur hum yeh Bajrang Dal jaise vishwas nahi rakhte, pyaar toh pyaar hota hai na? - I don't believe stuff like Bajrang Dal. Love is love, isn't it?
Ji kaka. - Yes, uncle. (in this case)
Kaka abhi hame jana padega- chemistry coaching hai- kitna hua? - Uncle, we need to go- It's time for my chemistry tutorial classes- how much [were the Pani Puris]?
Itni jaldi? Theek hai, sukhi puri lelo, - So fast? Okay here's your [aftersnack snack (that's that least complicated way to explain what a sukhi puri is)]
Sath rupay hue, - it's 60 rupees.
Kya kaka, angrez dekhte bhau badha dete ho? Main akele khata toh chalis ka hota - C'mon, uncle, y'all see a foreigner and increase the price? If I was here alone, this would have cost 40 rupees.
Beta, jab aap dhanda karoge tab samajh mein ayega, abhi apko coaching nahi jana? - Kid, when you grow up and have a job, you'll understand, now, don't you have classes to attend?
Han, kaka, din dahade loot lo - yeah, okay, why don't you just rob me,
Some context (you dont need to read this)
kulfi is an ice cream equivalent, usually flavoured with almonds, pistachios and saffron
beta literally means 'son' but its used to refer to any kid who's very young relative to the speaker's age; and also for jokes b/w buddies but that's a different thing
kaka literally means 'father's younger brother ie uncle', but can used to referred to any man who isnt related to you and is about the age of the speaker's parents; there are also other terms depending on by who and how you were introduced to the person
Bajrang Dal - an anti-societal group against religious and sexual minorities(as defined in the indian constitution, do not come at me with politics). Famous in pop culture for being vehemently against valentine's days and premarital eye contact (you think im joking)
The Chemistry Coaching thing is a big deal. Kids have great pride about which institute they go to. The institutes teach accelerated courses for specific competitive examinations, usually in an unethical way. It's considered kinda shameful if you don't go to one. (very dystopian, ik)
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the thought and care he has put into methodically plan out this day is nothing short of laughable. the very same day he learned about rhaenyra’s departure to dragonstone, he started calculating how the reencounter would go.
aemond has spent years of his life now imagining his first meeting with his half-sister’s second son after the younger boy took his eye and his sanity with him. he has seen himself patiently waiting for the inevitable family reunion, holding his want for revenge long enough to have lucerys sleeping soundly in his bed and aemond attacking him in the middle of his dreams.
fast and dirty and treacherous, just like lucerys himself acted upon him that night.
sometimes, the ire and resentment that threaten to rot him from the inside are enough for aemond to forget about any meticulous plan and just ride vhagar to dragonstone and burn it to the ground, like the madman lucerys has made of him.
his favourite fantasy, however, doesn’t even revolve around him specifically, no. his most treasured daydream features his father caring for him like the parent he’s supposed to be and not the king who chooses favourites, demanding rhaenyra to handle what is owed to viserys’ second son.
aemond is not stupid, though. he knows the last one of these confabulated possibilities is the most unlike to work for him, for nothing has ever been handed to him freely and effortlessly before. aegon has the name and the position to get him the things he wants, and also the things he doesn’t —but that aemond desperately needs—, and if it had been his older brother, he’s sure there would had been more repercussions for rhaenyra’s bastard. but he’s the second son, the spare, the one who isn’t granted neither love nor justice and just serves the purpose of standing in the shadows until he’s needed.
still, he hopes.
(hoping has never got him far, either.)
aemond knows the corridors and the secret passages of the red keep by heart. he has memorised the names and faces of the guards and their schedules and knows when both servants and royalty are supposed to be in bed. so, it’s easy to imagine lucerys trapped under his power and will if he were ever to come back to the castle. it’s always the first option with aemond, anyways, because who’s he if not a perfectionist —second sons don’t get the chance to be anything but—.
and then the day comes. helaena and aegon get married and lucerys comes back home to attend to the wedding.
“i’m tired, mother. i shall see you in the morrow”, he tells her before departing himself from the festivity, noticing that rhaenyra’s children have already retired.
aemond has mapped out the exact path he’s following, years and years of submerging himself amongst the darkest corners of the keep finally paying off. he’s going to wait for the change of guard, and he knows everyone else will be wasted and high on wine and celebrations, having no intention of paying attention to any children that should be sleeping by now. the dagger he has chosen for this specific moment —he took two years to decide, but ended up electing the same that sliced through his own eye, because it seems that he’s a sentimentalist too— is safely secured under his belt.
he moves behind the tapestry dedicated to visenya that hides the almost invisible opening of the tunnel connected to the room that used to be jacaerys and lucerys’, the one currently inhabited by just the second boy, and only needs to take a swift look around the room to locate lucerys velaryon —strong, bastard, bastard, bastard— by the windowsill.
whatever aemond had planned for this moment dies before it’s even birthed.
the moon shines on lucerys’ alabaster skin, illuminating his face and his doe eyes. he’s looking up toward the west wing of the keep, his cheeks resting atop his hands and his elbows firmly supporting his weight against the wooden rail of the windowsill.
aemond knows what lucerys is contemplating, for his very own chambers are located in that exact wing. it shakes aemond to his core, because lucerys isn’t observing aemond’s territory with fear, keeping himself awake in a kind of a night shift in order to guard his own safety. no. lucerys is looking at aemond’s window, almost in a perfect diagonal line to this very room, with an expression that doesn’t take much for aemond to pinpoint and recognise.
lucerys’ eyes are wide and glassy, and his gaze is absolutely dreamy. he looks like he wants, like he longs, just like aemond does when viserys ignores him or mother and grandfather offer aegon something that aemond has been craving for longer, harder. he’s looking at the tower like a lover in one of the old poems that the maesters made them all learn, sighing and huffing as if his small heart cannot take the distance. like aemond looks at vhagar, or the iron throne from time to time. like aemond looked at viserys when he informed them that rhaenyra and her children were coming home.
lucerys is glowing, there’s no better word for it, and aemond cannot stop looking. he laments his lost eye, and for the first time not because of fury. he wishes he had the full capacity on himself to completely soak in and burn this candid moment that lucerys is unaware he’s providing. he wants to remember how red lucerys’ lips are, and how many little dots complement his nose and cheeks. he wants to remember his sweet sighs, and the wind ruffling his curls.
but more than anything, aemond wants to remember the look on his eyes.
why lucerys would look at anything related to aemond with such longing escapes aemond’s mind, but it matters not. he’s looking at aemond like that, indirectly and secretly, but he’s doing that, and something hot and possessive blooms in his chest, as if he had been branded by scalding iron. he wants lucerys to always look at him like that, to look at aemond’s eye and face with the same need.
lucerys is more of an angel than he’s a human, like a vision materialised on earth to save aemond’s soul. aemond wants to consume him, wants to be saved and damned by that boy.
the knife is heavy in his pocket, and it’s truly laughable how easily he has forgone his thirst for revenge and has replaced it with devotion. his resolve has crumbled, but he has forged his destiny. he knows it, he can feel it settling under his skin like an organism.
he doesn’t leave until lucerys is tucked under his covers and is finally succumbing to a deep slumber. he has been baptised, and he has a new god to worship —didn’t his own mother say that he was prone to obsession? what else could he do when he’s been provided with the representation of faith in flesh and bones?—.
aemond goes to sleep with a new resolution.
he wakes up when the sun is yet to be up, throat raw from screaming, the taste of the rain and the fire and the blood of a chase that was never meant to be heavy on his tongue.
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