#i would've loved to get more than 3 episodes of laena

[helaenahightower]

i don't disagree with people criticizing the lack of screen time laena has gotten but i am confused by how many people i've seen acting like book!laena wasn't a cardboard cutout who existed to ride vhagar, be rejected by viserys, disappear from the story completely for ten years, return to be daemon's placeholder wife, give birth, and then die

[generalkenobitrash]

spoilers for ep6 because i'm making a part 2 to my huuuuge semi-review semi-rant about the episode

i seriously adore gwayne. daeron crumbs yay. i do like the dynamic between gwayne and alicent. they've been apart most of their lives, so they don't really know each other as they should, but they still hold much care for each other, even if they don't know how to show it. i'm glad alicent can atleast speak moderately about her feelings to her brother. the smallfolk fighting over food gave me anxiety. the faraway shot showing the streets overrun with people with the dramatic music was mighty effective in showing the desperation of the people. terrifying scene, to be honest. alicent can now match scars with rhaenyra. i just feel really bad for helaena. even without the autistic coding of her character, the situation she was in was fucking terrifying. larys coming to see aegon was interesting. i don't know if he's being genuine and sympathetic towards him, but the actors are all acting their hearts out. larys really is proving to be more interesting than we anticipated, thus the underestimated part. yay a second viserys hallucination. perhaps it's what daemon wished he had done for viserys instead of celebrating the heir for a day. wow, the eisode's not even over yet my interpretation of alys' words has come true :D or maybe she just killed grover herself, idk. has daemon beaten luigi's mansion? i guess we'll never know. addam bonding with seasmoke enforces the point that it is not the rider who chooses the dragon. the dragon chooses the rider. i do like the theme of dragons being subservient is an illusion. seasmoke's design looks different. i loved how smiley he was in s1ep3. i think it's fucking amazing that they flipped around the dynamic between rhaenyra and mysaria. in f&b, mysaria became daemon's lover again while being an advisor to rhaenyra. i do love that what we lost between rhaenyra and laena we get with mysaria. i've really been endeared to her and i'm glad my queen can have a like-minded person who understands her struggles and supports her. my girls deserve to be happy. syrax my sweet <3 i would've wanted the final scene to be rhaenyra in the sky seeing addam riding seasmoke, then for the camera to cut to his perspective seeing her. anyways, i liked this episode. aemond is a bitch. have a good day.

[sentys]

hotd 2.04 spoilers under the cut:

glad that they've brought back milly ... but it makes me a little suspicious.

MUPPET TULLY SIGHTING!

why is rhaenys being so chill with corlys' bastards existing in close proximity and telling him to elevate them? did she not have a problem with the whole driftmark legitimacy last season?? i feel like we're missing a scene + dialogue.

i have absolutely no want/need to see alicent struggle with a pregnancy scare.

unpopular opinion: i've had enough of the black council scenes. they don't establish anything other than their mistrust of rhaenyra's leadership and after last sunday, i'm skipping through them for the episodes to come.

delighted to hear my boy speak more high valyrian.

not sure why aegon cannot speak it fluently? is it just that he's drunk or never kept up with his lessons? :/

ngl, this predictable and heavy-handed cain & abel shit would've been far more impactful and dramatic had BOTH aegon and aemond fought with each other over jaehaerys' death, but apparently we're just not talking about that anymore!!!

LOVE to see sunfyre. HATE that it's in the same episode where he gets injured!

ffs, if aegon felt utterly useless at the small council then why not give him scenes bonding with sunfyre!

or more scenes MOURNING HIS DEAD SON!

i did not need to see daemon cosplaying aemond. nah, get that silly shit outta here.

now, is there a reason why alys speaks with a noticeably different accent or is it just that they told gayle that she didn't need to change it up for the show? doesn't really bother me, just curious.

daemon ... shouldn't you know better than to take drinks from strangers ... especially ones who're weirdly & accurately reading you for filth? mans is unwell.

i deadass thought that was dolorous edd for a second.

LAENA! MOON OF MY LIFE! COME BACK!

gotta say ... i don't like how EVERYONE seems to be dumping on aegon this season. like, he never wanted the crown to begin with and yet they're expecting him to just be a natural leader.

it's especially crazy coming from alicent because she (and otto) had years to teach him how to be a respectable prince and like, none of that is evident? idk, i just think that aegon's lack of discipline can't be blamed ENTIRELY on him.

jace is getting tired of this subplot and so am i. 🙄

sorry, but i never want to hear about this prophecy bullshit ever again. it's dragging down the show, atp.

why does gwayne not know his own nephew's dragon? i get that he's been in the reach (presumably for most of his life), but for him not to know any description of sunfyre in the years that alicent gave birth to 4 dragon-riding children??

i appreciate that vhagar takes a while to get up in the air. she's big, old, and we love her for it.

s2g, i thought baela was gonna be involved and that would be the only reason why rhaenys and meleys would stay in the fight and get destroyed, but you're telling me they just rejoin the fight when there's a clear path to escape?

another vhagar blindside? i mean, i guess.

all 3 weren't grappling, which means that anyone could've had a clear shot of vhagar roasting both meleys and sunfyre. so, did criston see the attempted fratricide?

rip to the dudes who were STOMPED by granny vhagar.

i love love love the continuity of soldiers turned to ash and bone in their armor!

ok, but what did he think coming up on aemond like that?

criston devasted at the potential loss of his stepson? yes please.

[redrisingsun]

when i had watched the episode i promised myself i wouldn't write this post but i've seen like three laena posts and i'm in pain so here goes nothing. i haven't read the books so. don't be mean to me thanks <3

if they HAD to kill laena off without delving deeper into her and daemon's relationship, they should've killed her in child birth but still made it her choice.

the maester turns to daemon to let him make the decision, but he doesn't. you know why? because laena is fully capable of making that decision herself and daemon knows it. he cares for her!!!!!!!! or at least he fucking should!!!!!!! he doesn't want her to die!!!!!!! he doesn't want their baby to die!!!!!!!

and like it pisses me off that they just had her go outside. like yeah, it ties the whole "i want to die a dragon rider" line together with her death, but wouldn't it have been so much more tragic if she didn't die in flames?

throughout the episode we see a woman who cares for and loves her children and her family. would she, even when in pain, not say goodbye to her own children? would she KILL HER OWN BABY???? HUH???????? NO!!!!!!!!!!!! we know that her baby isn't healthy (or at least book readers know her baby isn't), but LAENA DOESN'T. or at least there is no indication whatsoever that she or anyone else knows that her baby isn't even alive.

and the worst is that they could've set the scene up the same way. they could still have the maester ask daemon what to do and they could still have daemon ask him if laena would survive. she clearly knows what they're talking about!!!! she should've walked straight up to them, told the maester to save her baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we could still have gotten an emotional scene (that would be more emotional than a dragon blinking for ten seconds) with daemon telling her not to do it or some shit.

it would make so much more sense than having them cut aemma open in ep 1, too??????? if you HAVE to have the stupid c-section in the show, it would've made SO MUCH MORE SENSE TO GIVE IT TO LAENA. that viserys made that decision when he claims to have "loved his wife so much" all the time is literally one of my biggest issues with the show so far.

and then we could've gotten a better laena and daemon story altogether, still in the same amount of screen time. tell me it wouldn't be so much better if 1) they actually loved each other, 2) laena made a tough decision (showing that those often fall on the women's shoulders because men can take whatever they want, since the creators are so adamant on "keeping the misogyny realistic") and 3) daemon would've been an actually good dad.

like it feels as if they just kept laena and daemon's story line (if ten minutes of screen time can even be called that) to set up daemon and rhaenyra's relationship and it makes me so angry. i love daemyra!!!!! but guess what!!!!!!!! i love daemon and laena too!!!!!!!!!!!!! do they even have a ship name!!!!! he should've been seen as a better fucking dad!!!!!!!!! because there is no way in hell rhaenyra would have children with him (which i'm fucking sure they will eventually) IF HE IS A SHIT DAD. there's no way in hell laena would STAY WITH HIM IF HE WAS A SHIT DAD.

there was just so much with this episode that felt forced and stupid and i am so not here for it but i unfortunately do not have the patience to read the books so i guess ill just have to suffer. like don't even get me started on laenor or we'll be here all day

[alrightsnaps]

As a book reader I love the direction they took with Daemon and Rhaenyra but I fucking hate her dynamics with Alicent. It should have been Laena wth and with the spoilers I've seen they obviously ignored their relationship.

If you can stomach a middle aged man being a creep around a kid *shrugs*

I agree about Nyra’s relationship with Laena but I can't see how her changed dynamic with Alicent is to blame. Rhaenyra couldn't have a relationship, platonic or romantic, with more than one (1) female character, especially when her friendship with Alicent is only going downhill from here?

The Alicent/Rhaenyra dynamic is clearly queerbaiting and they'll be drifting apart more and more every day from early on. Who was stopping them from developing Laena and Rhaenyra’s relationship from episode 3 forward and actually making their romance canon on screen? It even coincides with book canon, where the two of them became closer after Laena and Daemon’s wedding, with the couple visiting Dragonstone often and Nyra Driftmark.

Or even better why didn't they give more episodes (or a full season) to the younger cast that would've actually allowed them to flesh out the Velaryon siblings before their deaths rather than turning them into background characters? They knew they die relatively early on but planned the timeline in a way that barely affords them time to explore Rhaenyra’s relationship with the two of them (or Harwin for that matter) or Laena’s relationship with Daemon.

At the end of the way Laena doesn't die for Rhaenyra to be with Alicent, she dies so that Daemon and Rhaenyra can marry so I don't get why it's a friendship that lasts all of two (2) episodes– with the fallout between them adding drama for their dynamic not just this season but throughout the Dance- that is to blame for Laena’s erasure. It's not Alicent who'll be having sex with Nyra before Laena’s body turns cold but I don't see Daemon getting any heat for her character being reduced to a blink-and-you-miss-it plot device.