#iain glen one shot | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

embersoftheorder · 1 month

Text

Eldridge Candell

Inquisitor of the Order of Embers

The Basics ––– – Name: Eldridge Candell Nickname(s): Eld Age: 64 Birthday: Spring Race: Human Gender: Male Marital Status: Single Physical Appearance ––– – Hair: Thinning gray Eyes: Blue Height: 6′2 Build: Gnarled Distinguishing Marks: Nothing out of the ordinary for a history of violence Tattoos: Two, a lion of Stormwind and another on the inside of his wrist hidden by leather strapped bracer Piercings: None Common Accessories: Old Alliance dwarven made rifle marked with an 'RL' with appropriate powder and shot; new blackpowder pistol; old well used bayonet; a small steel crow's skull hung on a chain of silver; trappings and equipment of the Order of Embers; assorted eclectic trinkets of the world (rosary, dried onion, a holy light symbol, salt, etc) Likeness: Iain Glen

Personal Information––– – Profession: Scout, Soldier, Farmer, Miner, Witch Hunter, Inquisitor Hobbies: Painting, Traveling, Cooking Languages: Common; Smattering of Gutterspeak and Orcish; Drust, read and write; Residence: Nomadic; Arom’s Stand Birthplace: Stormwind Religion: Holy Light (nonpracticing) Patron Deity: None Fears: Plague, Drowning

Relationships ––– - Spouse: Widower (Marien Candell) Children: S = Zexx (MIA); D = Sarasam Parents: F = Ser Erlain Candell (Deceased); M = Nora Candell (Deceased) Siblings: Peter (Deceased); Jaine (Deceased); Bella (Deceased) Other Relatives: Gwynn Candell (granddaughter); Rey Candell (granddaughter); Gendry Candell (grandson); Xaya Candell (granddaughter) Pets: Stern, an emerald eyed crow

Sex & Romance ––– - Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual Preferred Emotional Role: submissive | dominant | switch Preferred Sexual Role: submissive | dominant | switch Libido: Active Turn ons: Intelligence, confidence, patience, kindness, adventurous. singers Turn offs: Drama Love Language: Privacy Relationship Tendencies: His heart died in the Third War, but he’s still alive.

Traits ––– - Extroverted / In Between / Introverted Disorganized / In Between / Organized Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded Calm / In Between / Anxious Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable Cautious / In Between / Reckless Patient / In Between / Impatient Outspoken / In Between / Reserved Leader / In Between / Follower Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic Traditional / In Between / Modern Hard-working / In Between / Lazy Cultured / In Between / Uncultured Loyal / In Between / Disloyal Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––– – Smoking Habit: Sometimes Drugs: Rarely Alcohol: Sometimes

RP Hooks ––– – Witch Hunter/Inquisitor - It’s his profession and life roaming the countryside of Drustvar for Witches, Drust, and other spooky creatures that look to harm the innocent. But that evil has definitely not exclusive to the island of Kul Tiras, finding the tides of darkness sail to all shores of Azeroth and beyond. Ride with him, ride against him, or call for aid and he will come, alone or with others. Having been at this work for some time he has been known to take on apprentices as ordered such as Cheryl Duun and Josiah Nuebern.

War. War never Changes - Eld has seen four different wars from both sides of winning and losing. A refugee from Stormwind during the First War, freedom fighter in the Second, a victim of the Third, and then a monster in the aftermath. The Fourth War sent him into his current life and redemption arc that never seems to find an end on the isle of Kul Tiras. As time passes, friends grow fewer and enemies grow plentiful. Be you friend or foe?

Beyond the Stars - The Shadowland Fiasco sent Azeroth into a mass hysteria that sent thousands into a introspective self diagnosed mind therapy that gripped the world in a collective held breath. Eld was no different. Delving beyond the Veil had numerous consequences that lead him to believe it was more than a dream, it had taken him beyond life or death. The memories are scattered at times but the feelings are still there of his missing time. A ship, a family, a journey, losses, and a final goodbye. There is a hole in his heart that will never be filled, but he doesn't want to fill it. That hole is a badge to something he never thought he'd have again.

Old Dog, Same Order, Unending Work - There is a darkness coming to the world and the Order will not sit idle while it goes to hell in a hand-basket. As small as the group may be, they are travelling to face the darkness beside any allies they can find. Beware the dark, depths, and the Black Rainbow that will feast on the sky.

HOW TO CONTACT: OoC - tumblr, Discord ( Mogwai Kraken#7988) In-Game: Eldridge (WRA A-H 70 hunter) or Candell (MG A-H 70 rogue)

IC - "He's been down there a long time," murmured one of the miners as the pack of workers stared at the cave with worried glances. They shouldn't be this frightened but after so many years of torment by the Coven, Hexsworn, demons, and Tides knew what else had climbed out the gloom they had every right to be. Things in the night rarely didn't bump.

Foreman Strohnev crossed is arms and shook his head at the miner's whine, a loud 'hurmph' coming out from his thick walrus mustache. "Give em time."

For weeks things had been going well at the silver mine. Resources plentiful, work steady, and morale high as the profits that lined their pockets. The New Lion Mining Corporation was on it's way to becoming one of the most successful business ventures of this new Drustvar. A small work town had begun to spring up nearby in hopes of perhaps beginning an actual settlement as money was pumped back into the community.

Then the wailing had begun.

Most had hoped it would be some kind of soft cooing in the depths of the mine, something that would cause the willies and startled heads to rise thinking something was over their shoulder. This voice would have none of that. As a pick had struck rock, it came sharp and clear as a meal time whistle exploding through the carved tunnels to reverberate against stone and into flesh. High above in the upper corridors of the mine, men and women had cast aside tools to clutch at their ears in shock as they looked for the source. All eyes had traveled to the elevators further into the depths, whispers of those who might remain below.

None had come back up.

A search party was sent to investigate, the supervisor a hardy dwarf who had been down in the dark for years in the old country hills of Ironforge and Dun Morgh. Troggs, trolls, and beasts had plagued his life since he was a young beardling. He could handle a wail in a cave with a few other muscles to help him out.

The New Lion Mining Co was now short 12 men and had put up a posting for a new supervisor.

They hadn't had an interview yet.

Since the initial wail and disappearances, no one had dared to go down into the mine and memorials had already been scheduled along with letters of condolences to the families of those lost. Sad letters and pocket watches did not fill bellies or pay for supplies though, and word was sent east for aid from House Waycrest. Perhaps the guard would come or maybe a wizard to blast out the mine for the growing tragedy of New Lion as it was being whispered about. Foul moods, broken hearts, and no profits were stunting the fragile growth of this new colony.

The inquisitor arrived on a Tuesday afternoon upon an old black horse with a matching silent crow astride his shoulder.

He was an older man, his hair thin and gray to match the shabby beard he wore but his eyes spoke of a steel that ran deep and true despite the feet at the corners of them. With a crooked nose, chapped lips, and a voice to make men grimace as hard as him he had come to the office of the foreman. Broken leathers, tattered tabard, and an eclectic assortment of Tides knew what clinked among his carried belongings. The Order of Embers was always in dire straights with finances, but in service of Drustvar and House Waycrest there were none better to handle this sort of thing.

This inquisitor said his name was Eldridge. Eldridge Candell.

On Wednesday morning, the inquisitor had tied off his old horse and gathered his assortment of oddities to make his way into the mouth of the mine. He hadn't said anything to anyone, only asking for extra oil and a couple of lanterns to match some rough travel rations. With an old axe strapped to his belt to match an even older bayonet, Candell had swung a pack over his back and entered the mouth of terror.

The crow had planted itself in silent watch as the inquisitor disappeared.

Wednesday came and went.

Thursday passed without a sound.

Friday the miners began to murmur.

Saturday they gathered a watch.

Sunday broke with burning red sunlight and night fell with a spring storm.

Monday came with talk of what to do with the horse.

Tuesday was gone with the wind.

A week had gone by. No work. No news. No sound. No money.

No hope.

The crow sat silent in it's vigil. Was it waiting for the inquisitor's return? Or was it guarding the mine from the miners going in?

Or from what might come out?

Strohnev rubbed his mustache as he ordered the workers to get back to work. What work they would do, he didn't know but he wasn't getting anything for his coin having them worry and fret staring at a hole in the ground. He was not looking forward to writing to the Stand about needing another inquisitor or for them to at least come pick up the remaining effects of the missing man. Another man dead for this, what the hell was he gonna tell the authorities?

The crow let out a sharp croak, that made the foreman nearly jump out of his skin as he looked back to the mine entrance.

"Tides preserve," came a whisper that Strohnev was more shocked came from him as he stared at Inquisitor Candell.

The man leaned wearily against the frame of the door, his face grim and coated in thick layer of coal dust as his grimace caused the wrinkles to crack white lines across him. His pack was missing, his tabard was black and indiscernible of the colors of the Order. His knife was in his belt and a broken lantern hung loosely from the same. The man looked like hell had given him a proper chewing and spitting like he was the bitterest chew.

The foreman strode forward as the other miners spotted him and began to call out at the return of their 'savior'. A sick wet thud stopped him in his tracks as a stained leather sack flopped into the loose gravel.

A few tentative steps forward brought him to the sack as he leaned down to gently peer into the rank leather bag. The torturous withered face of an eyeless woman stared back at him, her face pockmarked with holes like a termite ridden floorboard. Her tongue languished out of her mouth, stained with black much as the stump that might have been her neck.

Foreman Strohnev shuddered as he quickly covered the bag back up and looked up to find the inquisitor standing over him looking grim. The older man grimly reached up to his shoulder and growled as he plucked something from his neck, a soft high squeal much like a piglet. It was insanely unpleasant as he felt his hands come to his ears, holding them tight as he looked in the inquisitors hand.

Squirming in his gloved hand was the oddest bug he'd maybe seen in his life. Bulbous red eyes, black body, orange legs with crystalline orange wings to match. It buzzed and flitted a bit in his hands as it struggled to right itself in his palm, the flecks of the old man's blood still shining on it's pincer mouth as it continued to wail.

It didn't last long as Candell closed his hand around it and squeezed hard enough to shake with as much violence as it took to snuff out the insects life.

Strohnev gaped at his hand and looked up into the inquisitor's face as he finally spoke with a dry cough and hoarse growl.

"Get back to work."

#eldridge candell #basic information #the returned #witch hunter #inquisitor #order of embers #world of warcraft #wyrmrest accord #moon guard #roleplay

2 notes · View notes

brn1029 · 1 year

Text

On this date in "real " music history…🙄🙄🙄

August 8th

2022 - Olivia Newton-John

British-born Australian singer, actress and activist Olivia Newton-John died from cancer at her home in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, at the age of 73. In 1978, Newton-John starred in the musical film Grease, which became the highest-grossing musical film ever at the time and whose soundtrack remains one of the world's best-selling albums of all time. She scored the 1978 UK & US No.1 single with John Travolta, 'You're The One That I Want', and the 1981 US No.1 & UK solo No.7 single 'Physical'. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included five No.1 hits. Newton-John, who battled breast cancer three times, was an advocate for breast cancer research.

2017 - Glen Campbell

American singer, guitarist, songwriter, television host, and actor Glen Campbell died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 81. He became a patient at an Alzheimer's long-term care and treatment facility in 2014. Campbell released more than 70 studio albums and sold 45 million records worldwide. His hits include: 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix', 'Wichita Lineman', 'Galveston' and 'Rhinestone Cowboy'. His guitar playing can be heard on ‘Strangers in the Night’ by Frank Sinatra, ‘You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'‘ by The Righteous Brothers and ‘I'm a Believer’ by The Monkees.

1996 - Kiss

Kiss appeared at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio on their 192 date Alive World Tour. During this show a fan threw his fake leg on stage, which all the members signed and handed back to him.

1992 - James Hetfield

A riot broke out during a Guns N' Roses and Metallica gig at Montreal stadium when Metallica's show was cut short after singer James Hetfield was injured by pyrotechnics. Guns N' Roses took the stage but frontman Axl Rose claimed that his throat hurt, causing the band to leave the stage early. The cancellation led to a riot by the audience who overturned cars, smashed windows, looted local stores and set fires.

1986 - Crosby, Stills and Nash

David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash was released from prison after serving three years for drug and weapons possession. His conviction would be overturned by a Texas appeals court in November 1987.

1981 - MTV

MTV broadcast its first stereo concert with REO Speedwagon who performed in Denver, Colorado, having just released the album Hi Infidelity and the hit singles, ‘Keep On Loving You,’ ‘Take It On the Run’ and ‘Don’t Let Him Go.’

1980 - Plasmatics

The Greater London Council banned The Plasmatics from blowing a car up on stage during their UK live debut at London's Hammersmith Odeon.

1970 - Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin bought a headstone for the grave of her greatest influence Bessie Smith at the Mount Lawn Cemetery in Philadelphia. Blues singer Smith died in 1937 after being refused admission to a whites only hospital.

1969 - The Beatles

The photo session for the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road album took place on the crossing outside Abbey Road studios. Photographer Iain McMillan, balanced on a step-ladder in the middle of the road took six shots of John, Ringo, Paul, and George walking across the zebra crossing while a policeman held up the traffic. The band then returned to the studio and recorded overdubs on ‘The End’, ‘I Want You (She's So Heavy)’ and ‘Oh! Darling’.

1964 - Ringo Starr

The single by The Young World Singers called 'Ringo For President' was released in the US. Such was The Beatles drummer appeal that fans launched a “Ringo for President” campaign in the midst of the Johnson/Goldwater race. A well-organized contingent – most of whose members were below the voting age of 21 – banded together to enter the drummer as a third-party write-in candidate for Commander in Chief.

1960 - Ray Peterson

Decca Records scrapped 25,000 copies of Ray Peterson's 'Tell Laura I Lover Her' because they felt the song, which recounts the last thoughts of a teenager dying from a car accident, was "too tasteless and vulgar". A cover version by Ricky Valance, went to No.1 on the UK chart a month later.

0 notes

riverstardis · 2 years

Text

sticks and stones:

here we go with the last episode of the series!!

this ep is so nerve wracking to watch knowing what’s coming though

oh yeah i forgot the ep starts with a shot of the cliff with upbeat music and then the car appearing and going off it😭

grace unaware that her life is about to change forever :(

charlie asking lily to look after the f2 locum (aka alicia) when they get there… neither of them are gonna like that mate

there she is!!! alicia my beloved💞💞💞

jacob saying he has a good feeling about today and it’s gonna be a good day😬

charlie saying “when the teacher is ready, the student will appear” to lily to convince her and then separately saying “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear” to alicia to convince her. he is so annoying my god

steph saying “please excuse the mess” as she shows connie through the house and it’s completely spotless😭😭 connie’s judging her

lily’s trying so hard to be nice to alicia

iain and jez discussing alicia and whether they “would” 🙄

louise and robyn are excited to see alicia. same. alicia says she went travelling and came home because of family stuff but she’s just back for one day and robyn tells her about glen who conveniently alicia was just treating in resus😭

“she’s actually being really nice” “what like nice nice?” “mhm, it’s weird”

connie saying alicia still has a few months left of her placement if she wants to continue it

oh i never noticed the staff’s pigeon holes in the corner of the staff room there. big mac still has one lmao

steph is doing a terrible job of pretending to care about carmel but somehow everyone is buying it

ahh the scaffolding there in the background. so that ethan and alicia to get can get trapped under and kickstart their incredibly frustrating months of mutual pining!

grace is such a little connie sjskfkf

poor carmel :(

grace trying to talk connie into getting her a puppy. well it’ll happen. not in the circumstances she’s imagining though unfortunately

alicia looks so good i may or may not be in love with her. ethancore lol

alicia decides to stay and finish her placement

lily tries to be friendly with her but alicia says she can stand down and “we can put what happened behind us but we’re never gonna be friends” fair enough tbh

aww grace allowing jacob and connie to date but she’s like “you’re not going to mess her around, are you?” all threateningly sjskdkkf

connie jacob and grace being all happy😫

jacob saying connie’s coming back later for charlie’s party…

grace asks connie if charlie’s going to retire soon and connie’s like “oh i seriously hope not” girl you were passive aggressively sending him retirement info once upon a time💀💀

also can you believe charlie STILL hasn’t retired 6 years on. get a move on man

steph chasing them

i’m watching through my fingers right now

i literally feel my stomach drop when they go off the cliff😭😭

i still can’t believe they made us wait a MONTH after this for the next episode. what a cruel summer. though that’s just a normal wait between episodes nowadays isn’t it

#classic casualty #sticks and stones #and so concludes series 30 #onto the anniversary!

1 note · View note

divine17 · 5 years

Text

↳ NIGHTBIRD II | MASTERLIST

Fandom: Game of Thrones

Request: “Could you write something about y/n being Robert and cersei’s true born daughter who will be queen? But she doesn’t want the throne and escapes to live with the dothraki, and takes a liking to Jorah and falls in love with him?” - Anon

& the general fandom desire for more Jorah x reader smut

Warnings: NSFW, Fem!Reader, Baratheon!Lannister!Reader, Princess!Reader, not a lot of a plot, generally sweet/fluffy, mention of Jorah’s ex-wife, age gap relationship, mention of male masturbation, implied that reader is not a virgin & has given a blowjob before (doesn’t mention to whom), also implied that reader likes rough sex too, morning sex, oral sex & swallowing cum (reader giving), kissing after oral

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: Part two to Nightbird. You can find part one here (xx).

This post will be updated with the link to part three when it’s posted!

You hated mornings with the Dothraki. It was by far your least favorite part of living with Drogo’s Khalasar. Each morning, it seemed as if there was a never ending stream of noise and annoyance. The generally busy sounds of the Dothrak people around you, the birds chirping in the sky above you, the horses neighing and whinnying beside you. The fight between at least two of the ko’s that always seemed to break out around sun up, with the occasional death and resulting punishments, causing a stir in the camp. There was simply no end to the sounds.

But this morning, there was none of it. Or it didn’t seem to bother you, at least.

The glow of the pink sunlight crept through the roof of Jorah’s tent, giving the room a certain soft aura. The two candles that laid on the floor beside you were still lit from the night before, providing just enough light for you to be able to see your surroundings as you took it all in. The birds seemed to chirp much quieter, the horses nearly silent, and the Dothraki were calm, almost tranquil, as you stretched. Jorah still held you close to his chest, his arms securely wrapped around your waist just like the two of you had fallen asleep as. Neither of you seemed to have moved an inch during the night.

You glanced up at the man’s face above yours. He looked soft, serene. The lines of his face had relaxed in his slumber and his usually neatly parted and brushed blondish hair was messy, spilling over his forehead. You brushed the stray strands away with your thumb, carefully. You tilted your head up, letting your lips brush along his jaw, which was covered by a scruffy greyish stubble, placing a small kiss to his skin before settling back down beneath him. He was handsome. A classic Mormont man, talented with a sword and with good looks and a sense of humor and softness to match.

Jorah stirred slightly when your warmth left his skin. He took in a deep breath, his chest rising and falling slowly as his eyes fluttered open. He wet his lips before he spoke, making you smile slightly. This still felt like some strange dream, being here with him. Though you were injured and practically exiled, and Jorah himself still tasked with spying on the new Khaleesi, Daenerys Targaryen, for the Westerosi men in the capital... It still felt like a dream.

“Good morning, princess.” He mumbled. A lump rose in your throat when he looked at you like that, like you were the only person who mattered to him. It was a new feeling for the both of you. His voice was raspy and sweet from his sleep, making you smile as you playfully rolled your eyes at him. How many times do you have to tell him that you are not a princess anymore? Many, apparently. But if you were quite honest... You didn’t even mind when he called you that. It sounded much, much better coming from his lips than anyone else’s. It almost gave you a positive view on the title. But you would never let Jorah know that, it would only allow him to call you by the title-turned-nickname even more.

“Will you ever stop calling me that, Ser Lord Mormont?” You asked, laughing quietly. Before you could begin to speak again, he interrupted, a thin smile playing on his lips

“You renounced your titles when you left the Seven Kingdoms, I’m aware. As did I.”

You shook your head, still laughing at him. Slowly, you began to run your fingers through his hair, combing it back out of his face again. He practically melted into your touch, his eyes fluttering shut once again as he enjoyed the feeling. You could tell that Jorah hadn’t been shown much love in the recent years. He was practically starved of affection and touch, even a platonic touch, it was obvious. He couldn’t help but love you just a little more when you did silly things like that. So simple, so sweet, he treasured the little things.

The smile on his face grew into a grin as you kissed him again, his lips this time, in a slow and lazy way. Passionate, and sweet for the both of you. Jorah began to pull you closer and closer to his body, sighing contently as you broke the contact for a moment to come to straddle him. His hands found their way to your waist, holding you tightly as you leaned down, your hands steady against his chest, to kiss him once more.

You moved one of your hands away from his chest, letting your fingertips trail down his body until they reached the waistband of his trousers. His breathing grew quicker as he felt you begin to untie them, loosening them on his hips. Your hand moved down slightly to feel his growing erection against the thin fabric. His own hand catches your wrist as he pulls away from your lips with a certain suddenness.

“Princess, you don’t have to do this.”

You laughed. “I want to please you, Jorah. I want to help you.”

He pauses for a moment, his grip on your arm loosening, before he speaks again. “Are you sure?”

You nod before leaning back in to kiss him again, just for a moment, before pulling away. Your lips come to rest on his collarbone, leaving small pink marks on his tanned skin. But you rise up from him once more. You can’t help but want to study his face when your hand slips into his pants, beginning to stroke his length. His eyes snap shut tightly as he breathes deeply, shuddering under your touch as you slide down his body and settle between his thighs. He isn’t entirely sure how to react when you begin to pull his trousers down just enough to give you access to his cock, which ached for your touch.

Jorah hadn’t had anyone since his ex-wife, Lynesse, which felt like several lifetimes ago, if you asked him. He was never fond of buying women for the night, nor potentially taking advantage of the Dothraki women. And he rarely took matters into his own hands for fear of being caught by an unsuspecting someone. That would be rather mortifying, so he simply didn’t risk it unless the need got far too much to handle. For a moment, his mind flooded with worry. What if he wasn’t good in bed anymore, having been out of practice so long? What if he wasn’t good enough for your liking, or didn’t last long enough nor had enough stamina for you? Was he your first? God, he didn’t want to be your first. If he was, he would want to make it special, something unforgettable and pleasurable for you more than himself. Sucking his cock first thing in the morning was neither of those (well, maybe a little unforgettable, for him at least).

He bit his tongue when you stroked his cock for the first time, barely catching the loud moan that would’ve come from his lips had he not stopped himself. Jorah shuddered under your touch as your other hand came to rest on his hip. For a brief second, you pulled away, making him open his eyes to look down at you. You quickly removed your top, tossing it on the floor without care. His eyes grew wide as he glanced over your body, his stare immediately falling to your now-exposed chest. Gods, that could have made him come right then and there had he not been so anxious.

After letting the man ogle you for a moment, you lean back down, eager to continue what you had started. Your hand came to play with his cock again, in long, languid strokes before you began to use your mouth on him. First, you kissed the head of him, placing a small lick to the underside of his cock. For someone who hadn’t done this very much, nor in a very long time, you seemed to be doing great so far.

A soft moan escaped the man as you took him into your mouth. You glanced up to catch his gaze when Jorah looked down at you, his pupils wide with both love and pure lust. You looked beautiful still, even like this, he thought.

You took as much of him in as you could, your tongue flat against his member. Your hand worked what you couldn’t fit into your mouth, stroking him slowly as you pumped his length in and out of between your hollowed cheeks and plump pink lips. More moans fell from him as you sucked his cock. He couldn’t stop them, but you didn’t mind. In fact, you quite liked them. So sweet and unusual to see him in such a lustful, vulnerable state. It was nice.

“Princess,” He groaned quietly, letting his hand come to rest in your hair, his grip tightening by the minute. You hummed lightly, sending little vibrations shooting through him. He swore quietly under his breath. You could tell that it was taking everything in him not to thrust into your mouth, to get a little rough with you. You wanted to smirk. If only he knew that’s what you liked. He exhaled sharply, desperate to keep the small sounds in so as not to alert anyone outside to your morning activity.

As Jorah grew closer and closer to his eventual release, you started trying to take him deeper into you. His hand, the one that’s not tangled into your hair, slides down his chest to meet your other hand, which rested on his lap. He takes your hand in his softly, holding it against his body.

It wasn’t very long after that until his breath hitched in his throat nervously, trying to mumble your name, a small warning of his impending release. You hummed against him as a sign that you understood, something you hoped he would catch. It seemed as if he did, as he relaxed slightly, his breathing quickening and small swears of your name and curse words falling from his lips until he came on your tongue. With a small wince, you swallowed the salted liquid.

Jorah struggled to regain his composure in the immediate moments after his release. He found himself absolutely speechless, in awe of what had just happened. All he could think about was how much he loved you, and how much he did not want to leave this tent right now.

You pulled his trousers back up, not bothering to tie them. Then, you curled into him as he wrapped his arm around you. Jorah brought his hand to meet your chin, tilting your head up slightly so he could kiss you. You tasted of him still, but he couldn’t find it within him to care even a little.

“I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you too, Jorah.”

#jorah mormont #jorah mormont imagine #jorah mormont one shot #jorah mormont fanfiction #iain glen #iain glen imagine #iain glen one shot #iain glen fanfiction #game of thrones #game of thrones imagine #game of thrones fanfiction #game of thrones one shot #got #got imagine #got one shot #got fanfiction #forthethrone

157 notes · View notes

toas-tea · 5 years

Photo

I thought I’d share some of my favorite shots of Iain in HD from the conan reunion.

#i plugged in my blu ray player #and pulled out my collector's box #for these shots #because hail blu ray #11/10 WORTH #iain glen #conan reunion 19 #the one in the middle where he looks into the camera for like a brief second nearly crashed my photoshop

37 notes · View notes

docgold13 · 3 years

Photo

365 DC Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

October 6th - Batman

Bruce Wayne had been the son of the wealthy Gotham City philanthropists Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce had a happy childhood that all came to a tragic end when the family was leaving the theater and made the fateful decision to cut through a darkened alley. They were accosted by a mugger who brutally shot down Bruce’s parents right in front of his eyes. Bruce would spend the rest of his life attempting to sublimate this terrible trauma by dedicating himself to battling crime. Attended to by the family’s faithful butler, Alfred, Bruce maintained the guise of a detached and privileged socialite whilst secretly preparing his mind and body for his crusade. Traveling the world, Bruce learned and mastered countless forms of fighting styles and martial arts; he became an accomplished escape artist, an incredible acrobat and fierce brawler. At the same time Bruce honed his mind, studying the sciences and developing an expertise in the fields of criminology, forensic investigation, physics, engineering and psychology. He cultivated himself into a brilliant tactician, analytical genius and the world’s greatest detective.

Bruce returned to Gotham in his early adulthood ready to wage his war, yet he was missing an edge. He knew that criminals were a cowardly and superstitious lot and needed a means of seizing upon this weakness. He had been terrified of bats as a child and decided to claim the visage so to weaponize the fear it evokes. As such he became The Batman.

Donning a bat-themed costume along with an ever growing arsenal of similarly-themed, nonlethal weapons and gadgets, Bruce’s gambit worked and it was little time before the criminals of Gotham lived in fear of The Batman. It wasn’t long before the exploits of The Batman brought about counter-escalation from the other side and soon Gotham City was besieged by an ever growing litany costumed criminals. Somewhat early in his career as Batman, Bruce met Dick Grayson, a youngster orphaned in much the same fashion as Bruce had. He saw that same hunger for justice in Dick’s eyes and decided to take him on as his protégé. Dick became Batman’s sidekick, Robin, and the boy’s youth and idealism helped to ground Batman, preventing him from becoming fully consumed by his quest for vengeance. The two balanced one another and this ‘dynamic duo’ would go on to become possibly the greatest crimefighting forces of all time.

Along with fighting crime in Gotham, Batman has additionally been a member of numerous super hero teams, chief among them being The Justice League. He has also served in The Outsiders, Justice League Dark and Batman Incorporated. Dick Grayson matriculated into becoming his own hero and Bruce ended up taking on new partners to act in the role of Robin, including Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown and, most recently, Bruce’s son Damian Wayne. Many actors have portrayed thew character in film serials, television shows and movies, including Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, David Mazouz, Iain Glen and Robert Pattinson. Batman first appeared in the pages of Detective Comics #27 (1939).

#365 DC Comics Heroes #DC Comics #Batman #Batman and Robin #Justice League #Outsiders #Lewis Wilson #Robert Lowery #Adam West #Michael Keaton #Val Kilmer #George Clooney #Christian Bale #Ben Affleck #David Mazouz #Iain Glen #Robert Pattinson #cut-out #paper art

123 notes · View notes

scotianostra · 3 years

Photo

Happy Birthday Emun Elliott the Scottish film and television actor.

Born in Edinburgh on 28th November 1983 as Emun Mohammadi, and brought up in Portobello, and Duddingston, his father is of Persian descent, his mother from Scotland.

Emun was educated at George Heriot’s School before going on to Aberdeen University and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Elliots first break was appearing in an episode of Monarch of the Glen in 2005, we then saw him in the Scottish Cop sitcom, Feel the Force.

In 2009 Elliott starred in a TV mini-series called “Paradox” in which the lab he works at as a physicist is named ‘Prometheus’ and he has a “chance’ to change the future because he has insight to the future. In Elliott’s real future. Three years later, he would star in Ridley Scott’s film named 'Prometheus’ as a character named "Chance”, Mark Bonnar also starred in the series.

One off appearances in Inspector George Gently and Vera were followed up with Game of Thrones, where he played the character Marillion in four episodes. He was then in the Glasgow Drama series, Lip Service on BBC Three and another sitcom Threesome. His biggest role to date was arguably in the BBC period drama, The Paradise, where he played John Moray, the shop’s owner.

Those of you who have been watching the BBC Scotland’s Edinburgh set, dark comedy drama Guilt will recognise Elliot from this excellent series, where he again teamed up with Mark Bonnar, it was also shown on BBC 2, the second series is available to stream now.

In 2019 oor birthday boy teamed up with two well kent Scottish actors, Peter Mullan and Bill Paterson. The film is set in Scotland and was shot on location in Aberdeenshire and Luxembourg. Emun also teams up with last weeks birthday boy Mark Bonnar, Martin Compston and Iain Glenn in The Rig, whish is in post-production, another in post-production is La Via per Parigi/ Walking to Paris, the true story of Constantin Brancusi who walked from Bucharest to Paris in 1903 and 1904 as a preparation and prelude to becoming the most important sculptor of the twentieth century.

#Scotland #scottish #actor #Edinburgh #happy birhtday

11 notes · View notes

terisrog · 4 years

Text

Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Ser Jorah Mormont and Iain Glen

All the Iain Glen and Ser Jorah excerpts from the “Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon” book by James Hibberd.

CASTING (Ch2)

Scottish actor Iain Glen already had some Hollywood genre-movie experience thanks to major roles in films such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider when he tried out for banished Westerosi knight Ser Jorah Mormont.

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): No one knew anything really about it except that it was HBO and so many [British actors] were going out for it. I met with them, felt pretty good about it, then it all went silent. I said to my wife—and I never usually say this—“I really, really want that job.” She asked why. “Honestly, I don’t know,” I said. “Because I know nothing about it. I just got a funny feeling”

PILOT EPISODE (Ch3)

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): It was a bit ragged and, in some ways, ill conceived, and no one had great conviction. Since the wedding was shot at night, quite a lot of money had been spent on seeing absolutely fuck-all.

(...)

IAIN GLEN: Some bigwig at HBO said, “Why the fuck did we go to Morocco? You can’t see fucking diddly squat, we could have shot it in a car park!”

SEASON ONE (Ch6)

EMILIA CLARKE: From day one, I was like, “Looking silly is not an option.” And the only way to not look silly is to just be completely balls-in the whole way. Because I thought if anything’s going to end up looking stupid, it’s going to be because of me, not in spite of me. I was too naive to know [others’ messing up] was even a possibility.

Clarke received reassurance and support from her more experienced scene partners Iain Glen and Jason Momoa.

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): One of Emilia’s great qualities is she has no idea how good she is, but that also causes her to doubt her ability and causes neurosis. She worries. So I always wanted to be reassuring. She would always want to talk through the possibilities in a scene.

(...)

“Those were tough days,” [Emilia Clarke] said, and on the Armchair Expert podcast added, “I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, ‘No, the sheet stays up,” while praising Momoa and Glen for being helpful and protective.

IAIN GLEN: In moments when she felt exposed because of what she was required to do, I was always very protective of her on set, making sure that the protocol was followed and everyone knew to treat her with respect.

(...)

In the most stunning shot of Thrones’ debut year, Daenerys rose from the ashes, Ser Jorah fell to his knees, and the Mother of Dragons was born.

ALAN TAYLOR: A stuntwoman walked into the flames for Emilia. I didn’t think it was working because she was wearing a gossamer gown like Emilia was wearing and they had to put so much fire retardant on it that it looked like she just climbed out of a vat of Vaseline. I thought, “This is never going to work,” but it seems to work fine.

Clarke’s real-life emotions about performing Daenerys’s rebirth nude were infused into her portrayal of the iconic moment, and she detailed her thoughts during each phase of the reveal.

EMILIA CLARKE (Daenerys Targaryen): On one side, that moment was incredibly powerful. And on the other side, I was butt naked in front of people I didn’t know. Alan saw the fear on my face and said, “Let’s lean into that then.” So there’s that close-up of me looking up at Ser Jorah, who’s looking down. And that’s exactly what I was going through: “I don’t know what this is. I don’t know what I’m expected to feel. I don’t know what I’m expected to do. I’m fully aware that I couldn’t be more ... open.” So the shot went from sitting down where there was fear and then as I stood up I was like, “It’s all out. So you just better own that shit.” Then as you stand up, you think, “Okay, you’ve done the worst bit. You’ve stood up. No one is behind you. No one saw up your ass, so you can stand all the way up now.” Suddenly that feels like a much more confident stance than just sitting cross-legged on the floor buck naked in front of people. Then I just naturally felt my shoulders go back.

(...)

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): At the time, the dragons were just dots on Emilia’s naked body. But the way she looked and the way the pyre went up, it all felt pretty amazing, and there was that buzz around the cameras that something magical was being created.

EMILIA CLARKE: They were like, “But what about the dragons?!” I decided I wasn’t going to stand there and think I have dragons all over me. This is a stupid example, but if I had my dog, I wouldn’t change my position because she was there. The dog would just exist, and just do whatever they’re going to do.

ALAN TAYLOR: Her performance is so rich and layered in that scene. Also, Iain Glen’s performance. It’s one of those cinematic moments where you convey the wonder of what you’re seeing partly by seeing it but mostly through the old Spielberg trick of watching somebody else react to it. Jorah’s reaction when he sees Daenerys and the dragons and falls to his knee is so beautiful.

(...)

ALAN TAYLOR: Probably the thing I was most proud of was the aftermath. [The dragon reveal] in the novel takes place at night. I wanted to shoot it at dawn and got into a fight with David and Dan about it. I wanted to be able to pull back to see the landscape, and we couldn’t afford to light that much landscape at night. They let me do it. I’m really happy with the shots that bring Jorah in and we do the slow reveal and the magic of the dragons, showing people awakening to this new world, then being able to drop back to a truly vast landscape. And what [composer] Ramin Djawadi does with the music there, so the last thing you hear is the dragons’ cry. The last line of the first book was “And for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.” So that was a wonderful way to end. We know this world, and now it’s been launched into whole new territory and you can’t wait for next season.

SEASON THREE (Ch9)

ALEX GRAVES: I came up with what’s been called “the Apocalypse Now shot.” But we were filming in Morocco during the Arab Spring, when transporting high explosives into North Africa was not allowed. I didn’t give up because that image of Emilia was so burned into my brain. So we smuggled the explosives into the country to do it. Emilia stood in front of these fireballs and you could feel the heat and the shock wave from the explosions, and she didn’t flinch.

EMILIA CLARKE: Iain Glen, who was consistently my mentor, was like, “Darling, come here. Look at how well taken care of you are. All you have to do is stand in front of that and all this shit is happening.” I realized that was all I needed to do. And it felt so good. It felt so electric. It was like everyone who had ever fucked me off in my life, they had them all lined up.

SEASON EIGHT’S SCRIPT (Ch28)

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): For eight years, you go, “Please-please ...” You just want to stay in the party, you just want to stay on board. This was the season to [get killed off], if you’re going to go. It’s a heroic and satisfying demise [for Ser Jorah]. Dan and David were sweetly nervous about everyone’s reaction, and their instinct is you'll be upset if you go. So the first thing I did was I emailed them and told them how much I loved the scripts.

JORAH’S ARC (Ch28)

... and Jorah Mormont, who died protecting Daenerys from the Army of the Dead.

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): You either conclude as a character, or you get to the end of the whole thing and people try to project forward of what’s the future of your character that you'll never know. I was happy to conclude. He would absolutely sacrifice his life for her to succeed. In a way, he was given the conclusion he wanted.

DAVE HILL: For a long time we wanted Ser Jorah there at the Wall in the very end—the three coming out of the tunnel [in the series finale] were to be Jon, Jorah, and Tormund. But the amount of logic we’d have had to bend to get Jorah up to the Wall and get him to leave Dany’s side right before [her tragic turn]—there’s no way to do that blithely, and Jorah should have the noble death he craved defending the woman he loves.

SHOOTING THE LONG NIGHT (Ch29)

Those fifty-five nights sandwiched in the middle of an already demanding schedule became like a real-life version of an eternal soul-crushing supernatural winter. The production had the added misfortune of getting slammed by two “polar vortex” storms, dubbed “the Beast from the East” in the press, as if White Walkers had literally arrived on the set. The storms brought extreme low temperatures with weather that local reports said felt as low as nineteen degrees Fahrenheit. “One night we were supposed to film Jorah defending Dany by a flaming trebuchet, and we had to call it off because it got so cold that the gas fire bars wouldn’t light,” Dave Hill recalled.

The cold blast combined with freezing rain, gusting wind, and an intensively physical and technical job that stretched from early evenings to the mornings. The Thrones crew prided themselves on being resilient, but the “The Long Night” very nearly broke them. The cast had to become actor-athletes, enduring week after week of physical endurance challenges while continuing to give their usual acclaimed performances.

IAIN GLEN: I don’t think people can comprehend what eleven weeks of continuous night shoots does to the human body and brain. It destroys your system and your thinking. We just had to get so wet and so dirty and so cold and do it again and again that it really was the hardest thing in all eight seasons for all departments. You kind of try and retain a gallows humor, but it was absolutely brutal. In storytelling terms, it made sense because of who they were up against. But it was a real test. It completely fucked your body clock. You have no life outside it. On day shoots you'll go have a meal in the evening and do a bit of something. On nights those down hours are removed. You get to sleep at seven in the morning and then you get up in the midday and can’t really do anything. It was the most unpleasant experience in all of Thrones.

(...)

IAIN GLEN: How Miguel managed to hold it together is beyond my comprehension.

(...)

IAIN GLEN: You had an absolute fucked bunch of actors, but on-screen it looks horrible and dirty and dark and cold. Without getting too Method about it, it bleeds onto the screen.

HER BELOVED SER JORAH (Ch30)

What followed was a succession of, as Clarke put it, “strings being cut” for Daenerys. After their victorious battle against the Army of the Dead, Daenerys lost her beloved Ser Jorah. And when Varys heard of Jon’s rightful claim, the Spider took steps against his queen, attempting to manipulate a scenario where Jon could sit on the Iron Throne instead. Daenerys, already feeling isolated and paranoid, ordered Varys executed by dragon fire. And that, in turn, further caused Tyrion and Jon to question their loyalty to her.

THE PYRES (Ch31)

Ser Jorah was laid to rest after the Battle of Winterfell, with Iain Glen among several actors lying on funeral pyres.

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): In that moment, I was aurally saying goodbye, listening to the set operating. What a vast, slick machine it had become, and to hear it orchestrating ... I got into it. Everything echoes backward over the past decade. Trying to let the whole thing go.

But when Daenerys said farewell to her faithful friend, she bent forward and whispered something in his ear. In the script, her words are described as “something Jorah will never hear, and we will never know.” Appropriately enough, Iain Glen will not reveal what Emilia Clarke said.

IAIN GLEN: It was something entirely sincere and true to the moment and something that I will never forget. I'll always cherish it because it’s something no one will ever know but the two of us. And that’s a memory to hold on to.

THE END (Ch32)

IAIN GLEN (Jorah Mormont): What we do as actors is ephemeral. We get lost in something and then go get lost in something else. But to live in that for a decade was the best thing ever to be involved in. Until my dying day it will be the most exceptional experience. To be in the biggest hit ever is the best feeling. What you can’t do is project ahead and say, “I want more than that,” because it ain’t going to happen. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You have your final shot, your final red carpet—all of the “finals” of everything. There’s even a final “How do you feel about it ending?” It never hit me that much. It’s only looking back now, occasionally, that a shock will go through me: “I won’t be doing that again.” I can be doing anything, but it’s usually around work, when I just get a memory of the Thrones world. You had the most amazing support, the most brilliant crew, these great friendships, and a great deal of love for what we were doing, where anything was possible. Nothing will ever compare to it. Nothing will be like that, ever.

#Ser Jorah Mormont #Iain Glen #Game of Thrones #Behind the Scenes

79 notes · View notes

scratchybeardsweetmouth · 4 years

Text

Iain Glen: From Game of Thrones to cycling's dark side when Le Tour came to Ireland

November 4, 2020 | By Esther McCarthy (x) Irish Examiner We last saw him as Daenerys' trusty sidekick, but in The Racer - opening movie at Cork Film Festival - Iain Glen plays a shady character involved in the Tour de France in 1998 Excerpts:

[...] Now a new movie recounts that 1998 tour through the eyes of a cyclist. Though fictional, The Racer shows the dangerous lengths teams will go to for a competitive edge. Shot in Ireland and Belgium, the opening film for the Cork International Film Festival centres on a domestique (support rider) regarded as one of the best in the business. Iain Glen plays the team’s Mr Fixit, the man with the syringes and vials. “I studied documentaries and a couple of films just to get to know the world it occupied,” he says. “What drew me to the script was it didn't hold back its punches, I thought it was a very frank and honest, quite a wry, insightful look at a particularly bad period for drug abuse within the sport.” “That tour became known as the Tour de Drugs because of the amount of drugs that were going down at the time. The people within the team and my character, certainly within the context of the film, didn't have any great qualms about it - everyone was doing it and we were doing it as well. That was the norm. It's ironic to think that (Lance) Armstrong was about to enjoy his great stretch as being the world-leading cyclist and he won so many tours in a row and this was prior to that. During Armstrong’s time everyone thought the sport had got its act together a bit more.” Directed by Kieron J Walsh, the movie shows the extraordinary dangers the cyclists face as a result of blood doping... [...] “People weren't wrestling with their consciences as they decided how they could compete at the highest level, they were just doing what everyone did. And I thought that was accurate and telling,” says Glen. “You would have to have a gallows humour.” “The conceit of zoning in on this domestique, someone who had sacrificed his entire life for cycling with the intent of never, ever winning himself, who would put his whole life on hold, and then physically put his own body through the abuse that he did to try and compete, I thought was a very powerful conceit for the film.” Glen is one of Scotland’s best-known actors, mixing it up between roles in theatre and the big and small screen. But he didn’t initially consider an acting career, stumbling into drama while studying at Aberdeen University. “It was there that friends of mine got involved and I was slightly dragged against my will into it. I had no idea what actors were and that you could earn a living for what they did.” That changed when he performed a small part in The Crucible. “I felt that I could occupy that space in my imagination where I believe the world in which I was standing in and seemed to be able to project that in a small way. I just got really addicted very quickly for that feeling. I bumped into it very accidentally, I had no great desire, I didn't even know what it was until I was 18, really.” Many of those projects have brought him to Ireland - including playing Jorah Marmont in Game of Thrones. A movie shot in Ballyvourney, Co Cork, is one he has happy memories of despite its dark subject matter. “I do have very strong memories of Song For a Raggy Boy and it’s among my favourites,” he says. “It put me together with Aisling Walsh again, who was a great friend and still is. It's an awful part of history. And I thought that the film portrayed it very powerfully and very accurately.” “I played a very disturbed man and all the kids were slightly scared of me, because they were at an age where they didn't see a division between actors and and the roles that they're playing. I remember the last weekend just before we wrapped, I took them all out. We went and hung out and saw a film together and did different things.” “It's amazing how much in denial the higher echelons of the church were and politics and society too. You need to keep banging on the door for it to be really broken down and owned up to comprehensively and fully and certainly the film was one of the early knocks in the door, I think.” LOCKDOWN CULTURE Parenting a young family during initial Covid restrictions made for a busy household, but when Glen turned to culture he found comfort in reading and his guitar. “It's been a tricky time for everyone. I'd love to say that massive new things opened up but to be honest, it's really very pragmatic: how do you cope with young children when they're in the same house all day?” “I've got young kids as well as older ones. The home education was a challenge that was very preoccupying. I play the guitar and that's always a means of getting away from it all a little bit. William Boyd was a writer who opened up to me. I'd worked with William on a film that he adapted the screenplay for. And then I did a play of his called Longing.” “He was very present in the rehearsal for that and he’s a lovely man, but I'd never read any of his writing. I just started to read a William Boyd book and I just couldn't stop reading. So during lockdown, I read about nine William Boyd books, starting with Any Human Heart.”

#iain glen interview #interview #iain glen #i like this little interview #william boyd #aisling walsh

12 notes · View notes

scorpion-flower · 4 years

Text

Fic trope meme

I was tagged by @owlstorm 💙

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // there’s only one bed or long distance correspondence // hurt/comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon compliant or fix it // reincarnation or character death // one shot or multi chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romances or middle aged romances // time travel or isolated together // neighbors or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

Tagging: @edwardalric @mistress-elizabeth @star-siiign @cute-poison20102014 @catherinedefrance @papa-geralt-of-cirilla @autheane @erebus-et-eigengrau @iain-glen @misfit-on-a-journey and anyone else who wants to do it.

#tbh I would have chosen them all #because if a fic is good #i'm gonna read it even if it features a trope i don't care about #scorpion-flower #tag #tag meme #fun #fandoms #we were the kings and the queues

5 notes · View notes

clarasimone · 5 years

Text

The official birth of Jorleesi ?

I was in the mood for a little meta archeology :-)

I don’t know how many fans experienced what I did but, as I was watching Season 1, years after it aired, I began perusing the web in the hopes of finding delectable spoilers confirming that Jorleesi would become canon. And what I fell upon was this:

Oh how my heart rejoiced ! I thought, for sure, the series would give us A KISS. One of many ! Of course, we did get a kiss but we got this one:

I had not realized that the pic that I had found floating on the web was taken from a behind-the-scene photo shoot or documentary featurette.

Yet, to this day, I stand fascinated by how this misleading perspective shot fueled Jorleesi. I mean, it’s been almost 10 years now and that behind-the-scenes perspective on Iain Glen and Emilia Clarke still haunts our nights, inspires writing and makes our soul soar....

Hard not to when even HBO jumped on the bandwagon. Witness this page on their website:

https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/season-01/10-fire-and-blood/synopsis

If you click on the link above and you hover the mouse over Jorah and Dany, you’ll see a hidden tag appear saying: "Ser Jorah and Daenerys kiss" ! So, EXCUSEZ-MOI, but someone at HBO was shipping them before or along with us ;-)

Then, there’s this behind-the-scene featurette, only available on Youtube, called “A Horselord’s Funeral” in which the documentary vid cam travels next to the actors, for a few seconds, from the misleading but libido-caressing perspective ;-) In the show we, alas, never see this profile shot of the couple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ts6V7oyBd8

So, the famous pic either comes from a screen cap of a longer version of this shot, or it was taken from a still camera from the same perspective (@houseofthebear is looking for the source!)

To my knowledge, there exists 3 versions of our treasured shot.

VERSION NUMBER 1 (below):

Jorah and Dany remain at a respectable distance and Daenerys is looking passed her Knight but they are touching/grabing each others’ arms, something the actual scene never lets us see! The way Jorah tentatively looks at his Khaleesi, you know something is brewing.... Note the out-of-focus objects/people in the foreground. The cam is peeping toming Dany and Jorah (the same way the vid cam does in the behind-the-scene featurette).

(Segway: there exists a less committed version of the above pic, in which we perceive Jorah’s passionate angst at seeing Dany enter the funeral pyre but it doesn’t look like the prologue to a kiss:)

The real first version of THE KISS inspired many wonderful fanart pieces. From our very own @favor757 below:

And also from these unknown (to me) artists:

In the following rendition, the artist cheated a bit: the characters peer in each other’s eyes :-)

More recently, the pic was also the inspiration for a post-season 8 fanart:

VERSION NUMBER 2:

AH-HA ! They are leaning in for THE KISS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The trajectory seems evident. I still cannot believe it ended up being a tender peck on the cheek given Jorah angling his face to Daenerys’ mouth and she having lowered her eyes to his face... and lips?

This version also gave us wonderful Jorleesi fanart:

Above @heartansoulart

AND NOW... VERSION NUMBER 3:

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it’s almost THE KISS isn’t it ? And where do we find this version ? Wait for it........

We find it on... Iain Glen’s own website, the rascal ;-)))))) Yes, he is the proud Captain of the HMS Jorleesi ;-))))))) http://iainglen.com/film/game-of-thrones/

This version inspired other fanart too.... by artists who took things even farther ;-) Below, if you look at the pic at the bottom, on the left, I believe J+D’s proximity is a manip’...

And then, why not:

(what’s wonderful below is that you can tell it’s art yet the faces look like they come from actual shots, but which ones ? I can’t trace the originals, it’s seamless, it’s magic)

Finally, there’s our very own @salzrand who, if I may venture to say, imagines what happens AFTER THE KISS, every time, but we recognize that alternate perspective of Season’s 1 almost KISS :-)

Now, going back to my autobiographical tale, I waited two seasons to see THE KISS appear because I never noticed that it was all taken from Season 1′s finale ;-) An excusable mistake given the altered perspective. I was waiting for the profile perspective darn it! And never seeing it, I kept thinking the scene was up-coming ;-)

It frustrated me to no end until I just fell down the fanfic and fanart hole and decided to adopt it as canon. Now, I don’t friggin’ care LOL

****************************************************************************************

And, for the sake of comparison, a vid of the actual scene:

youtube

So, as you were dearies !

p.s. if you find other fanart inspired by the 3 versions of the “THE KISS” or if you find other versions of “THE KISS” itself, reblog and add/paste or send them to me, OK ? xxx

#THE KISS GoT meta #Dany x Jorah #Iain Glen #emilia clarke #Ser Jorah Mormont #daenerys targaryen #jorleesi

76 notes · View notes

hopelesstvaddict · 5 years

Text

In defence of The Long Night and The Bells

[In light of all the backlash and ahead of arguably one of the most anticipated series finale in TV history here is my case in favour of The Long Night and The Bells]

First off, credit where credit is due. Game of Thrones never made it easy for itself in terms of viewer expectations. From a surprise hit back in its first season it grew and expanded into this monster of a global phenomenon. That it is adapted from a pre-existing series of books only adds to fans' distress. The ending of it all is bound to satisfy some and deeply disappoint others. The final season, for all of its hype, is already proving the point. We've seen it happen with the greatest - The Sopranos, Lost, Breaking Bad, Mad Men... - and make no mistake. Game of Thrones IS among the best.

One leader behind whom to rally

Two years of anticipation and a series-long improvement created an immense amount of expectation for The Long Night - and for those who expected it, for the burning of King's Landing. Director Miguel Sapochnik delivers on all fronts and it's totally understandable why he was the producers' pick for these two episodes. From the man who offered us Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter, The Long Night and The Bells could not have been better handled in terms of direction and cinematography. These two outdo the show's own bar in terms of scale and spectacle. Perhaps The Long Night was indeed a bit dark but not everyone was personally affected by it and this works in terms of narrative choice. It's a battle that takes place at night after all. By now, we're used to Sapochnik's down-to-earth approach to battles - once again, there are beautiful shots that follow Jon or Arya during both battles - and of his use of shots from different scenes smoothly flowing into one another - there are several during the final stand of the characters in The Long Night and some in The Bells as Arya and the Hound separately struggle to survive. Improvements could have been made over the feeling of sometimes being overwhelmed by the confusion of the events that transpired during The Long Night and not knowing which character we were following but in the end, that's exactly the spirit. Battles are not nice and clean. They're a complete mess and losing track of your comrades is exactly the kind of thing that would happen. And Sapochnik manages to also instill real terror in chilling scenes like the one in which Arya navigates her way out of a wight-infested library, or a gradually wight-covered Drogon screeching away in fear, or the Hound coming so close to suffering poor Prince Oberyn’s fate so long ago.

At this point, we must pause and commend some really beautiful cinematography, courtesy of Melisandre for a good amount of it. The lighting of the araks was - beyond being a nice way to light up the screen - nothing but epic. So was that of the trenches. And logic aside, the ride of the Dothraki was a spectacular way to begin the battle and it doesn't get any more powerful than those small flickers of lights going out one by one. Talk about getting your hopes dashed. And for all the hellish inferno that Drogon unleashed on King's Landing it made for beautiful shots - there was in particular one aerial vertical shot of the city that was really cool - really, destruction was never this beautiful and horrible. The level of sheer spectacle is unparalleled - at least on TV - and deserves unequivocal praise. Some will argue that it does not come close to the Battle of Helm’s Deep from The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers, the inspiration for The Long Night. But Sapochnik’s direction is once again a delight to see, proving he delivers Thrones’ battles like no one else. There was arguably the biggest challenge on the series with The Long Night given the expectations and an even greater danger as the closely-kept-secret Bells had to avoid feeling like a repeat. Sapochnik thankfully steers clear of the obstacles, knows how to build the tension needed before the big breaking point and expertly separates the two episodes, not only in terms of lighting but also in the overall feeling, as the latter one resembles much more a deadly massacre than a legitimate fight. A notably striking moment is when a dazed Arya wakes up, covered in ash and painfully struggles to breathe and cough, a harrowing scene that manages to convey the utter devastation brought on the city.

Logics and time constraints were never the show's biggest strengths especially during later seasons but thankfully it was not as pronounced in this two installments. We've mentioned the Dothraki ride. Surprise, we learn later that half of them have magically survived their ill-advised first charge. Why was Ghost not with Jon ? Or the Starks ? Why hasn't anyone considered the crypts might not be safe ? And why didn’t the Starks say goodbye to one another ? How come Daenerys was able to take on the entire Iron Fleet, Golden Company and all the ballistae from King’s Landing if the previous episode showed that she was powerless against just the first ? Why did the soldiers unnecessarily kill civilians in King’s Landing ? These are legitimate but ultimately, minor concerns and thankfully they don’t detract nor do they mean that much in two episodes that had so much more to take care of. Most of these queries find an answer for Doylist if not Watsonian reasons. There had to be trouble in the crypt to give something to the main characters trapped there - even though most of the action scenes ended up cut. Arya sort of waltzed past the White Walkers unnoticed for the killing blow but that was the whole point of her training with the Faceless Men. Moving swiftly and silently is as much a skill she gained as wearing faces. And killing civilians in the heat of battle seems like an entirely possible thing, even it is horrible.

For whom the bell tolls

Thrones has arguably acquired a reputation for not shying away from killing off its main characters. Others have done it before and frankly, better. While that has been a staple of the show in its early years, it has largely avoided it in its later seasons, shielding its fan favorites with thick plot armor. So many times in The Long Night, viewers saw what could be the end of this or that character - except it wasn’t. As such, anticipation of a bloody final battle that would off many beloved characters was stunningly squashed when the dust finally settled and we ultimately bid farewell to important - but not vital - players. Perhaps that’s another way of subverting viewers’ expectations but it mainly leaves a sour taste of ‘really...?’ Perhaps this was done on purpose to better shock afterwards, given how The Bells subsequently played out. There’s no doubt now that characters like Jaime or the Hound escaped unscathed from the battle of Winterfell because they were needed for the sack of King’s Landing. But unless the finale surprises, the survival of others like Tormund, Pod or Brienne is quite dubious, given how their roles are essentially over.

But while the unceremonious killing of Rhaegal at the hands of Euron, a character so frustrating that seeing him be done with by Jaime was really THIS satisfying and Missandei’s death left a lot to be desired - most viewers expected half of the Missandei/Greyworm pairing to perish during The Long Night and were pleasantly surprised when both survived, only for her to die in such a disrespectful way in the next episode - the treatment of the casualties in The Bells is at least done properly and on this domain, The Long Night really wins. Melisandre, Edd, Beric, Theon, Lyanna Mormont and Jorah are really given time to make the most of their last - even if brief - moments, going out in respectful ways that complete nicely their arcs. Melisandre’s final appearance, in particular, signals a certain direction in the end of the overall story as it happens right after the annihilation of the most powerful supernatural force in Westeros, perhaps heralding the end of an era in which magic still played a large role. The acting must also be praised, especially on the part of Alfie Allen and Iain Glen who really shined in his last scenes with Emilia Clarke.

Sapochnik also deserves some recognition for his ability to strike a proper balance between battle scenes and more quiet moments, allowing character development in an otherwise epic but mostly dialogue-free spectacle. In doing so, he effectively avoids what he calls ‘battle fatigue’, the moment where audience becomes tired because a battle gets drawn out. No character feels left out although with a longer episode or season, we could have seen more of those we didn’t follow that much (Tormund, Pod, Gendry...); it is also a pity that scenes like Tyrion and Sansa killing wights ended up on the cutting floor but their interactions make up for it, offering the episode its best lines - and arguably its best character moments. The narrative naturally focuses on Jon and Daenerys as the leaders but in an interesting way, they are rendered pretty useless and relegated to the roles of helpers more than defining victors. But even so, the episode makes a point in checking with each major protagonist even for brief moments that nicely go beyond mere fighting (Greyworm being torn over abandoning his Unsullied men, Brienne and Jaime saving each other, the Hound’s fear of fire...) But the night ultimately belongs to two players; the Night King, who dominates the episode as he crushes Winterfell’s defences and thwarts off all attempts against him by both Jon and Daenerys, and Arya Stark, de facto Princess Who Was Promised.

The song of Ice

This season has largely respected Arya’s character development and storyline, tying it nicely into the current narrative and has finally started giving her some sense of humanity after the show had her dangling for way too long on the edge of becoming an emotionless killing machine. In addition to some callbacks to her past (’Stick them with the pointy end’, ‘What do we say to the God of Death?’, ‘Not today’) The Long Night continues Arya’s progress towards finding herself and in the process, manages to shift from mere spectacle to the continuation of a personal journey for a young woman who learns to fear Death once again, and reverts to fighting not just for the sake of fighting but for her life. Maisie Williams conveys this change well and the scene she spends in the Winterfell library is chilly enough to make you on edge. The beauty in this is that Arya’s intertwined storyline with other characters such as Beric and the Hound also furthers their own; the former fulfilling his destiny and the latter finally confronting his fear of fire for the affection he feels for his former protegée. Arya is thus the one to kill the Night King, a twist unpredicted by almost all (but as evidenced by Melisandre, foreshadowed) and very satisfying in terms of narrative because it nicely surprises viewers but also ties in with the character’s evolution. Arya has increasingly been vocal about the importance of her family; evidence of this is seen when she firmly stands by her sister this season. Had Jon done the deed and fought off the Night King, we would have been treated to a swordfight of epic dimensions but that would have ultimately detracted from what Arya’s presence brings. Not only does she use the Valyrian dagger that almost killed Bran - and started this whole series of unfortunate events - and use it with her signature move, but the show frames it as if she’s largely doing it for her brother who was seconds away from suffering an apathetic death. The look she gives him afterwards really conveys the love that Arya is finally feeling back for others. Family is however still not enough and it takes the Hound again to put Arya on the final steps of her path two episodes later.

The most recurring complaint about The Long Night was how quickly and sudden the threat of the Night King was dealt with. Most viewers agree that had more episodes been available, a season-long storyline dealing with the Long Night would have been possible, or even splitting the battle in two episodes. But we got what we got and yes, it was all over over the course of one night. A large amount of complaints have been directed at the fact this danger was presented to us in the very first scene of the show, how the White Walkers were seemingly the ultimate enemies to defeat, how in one episode it was all solved and how it was so easy to do so. That’s forgetting many things.

It's a show called Game of Thrones. Adapted from a series of books called A Song of Ice and Fire. So no, the threat of Ice was not the whole point of the show. Nor was it for the books - it's only half of it. And the show’s title only reminds all that the whole story revolves around that iron chair and who will get to sit on it in the end. The battle was certainly not easy and not quick. There was no doubt that good would prevail because the threat of Ice was always a ‘good versus evil’ ripoff. We knew they'd win. But it certainly wasn't an easy win and in saying that White Walkers were introduced since the beginning, viewers will need to remember what that implies; that they were there during the whole series and that each time they appeared they won. Hardhome? They won. Pursuing Bran and killing the Three Eyed Raven? They won. The Fist of the First Men? They won. The wight hunt? They won. Last Hearth? They won. So at this point, Winterfell WAS going to win. It might have taken a single night of resistance but it was the culmination of eight seasons of knowledge slowly gained to better understand them and give a proper fight and it wasn’t an easy process. Each former battle against the White Walkers (or any other battle during the course of Thrones for that matter) lasted several hours at most or less than a night. So did the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Expanding the time would perhaps have been more true to expectations and the stakes raised, but would have thrown the episode into the ‘battle fatigue’ effect Sapochnik and the producers wanted to avoid.

And once again, Game of Thrones pulls the rug under our feet. That's the beauty of it. The show has always been about subverting our expectations. By presenting Ice as the first real danger we were exposed to, it made sure that we'd focus on it and conveniently forget the other half. Just in time for ...

The song of Fire

George R.R. Martin has famously said that the title for his series is about the threats of ice on one side and fire on the other. Yet this has somehow eluded most viewers and the show played this at its advantage to pull off its most massive twist - hiding the fire part of the equation in plain sight and worse, having us root for it. And we thus come to the main complaint about The Bells - how ‘Dark Dany’ was out of character, character assassination or too rushed or too sudden. It was not. It's been staring at us since the beginning and we were all blinded. Feminism ! DRAGONS ! Female power ! Dracarys !

It's been executed in the most perverse, painful, knife-twisting manner and in some way, it's such a Game of Thrones move. That's the whole sadness of it. Back in the day, Lord Eddard's demise and the likes of the Red Wedding suddenly slapped viewers in the face all over the world and taught them what a classic Game of Thrones move was. From then on, we were on guard, ready for the most gut-wrenching plot twist and it kind of stripped the magic away. But surprise-killings aren’t the only way to hurt viewers and trick them. And now that the show pulls another twist of a different kind, we refuse to see for what it is. But the subtlety of it was laid out as early as Season 1. The evolution of Daenerys as a tragic character has been carefully crafted to be the biggest betrayal on the show. She starts off as a girl with no agency, sold into marriage and raped - ensuring our immediate sympathy. Then she turns the tables and proceeds to do it in a cool, badass way. And dragons are made to burn things right? So when it finally happens we're sold. She liberates slaves, she wants to create a better world, she keeps winning and winning and winning. What could possibly go wrong? Well, Westeros is what could go wrong. We've seen her storyline on a pretty constant rise all the way through Season 6, with only minor setbacks so it should follow logically - in terms of narrative excitement - that she would next fall. And indeed it is Season 7 that amped up the negative side of her character in a way previous seasons simply slipped it past us and that is generally then that the ‘Dark Dany’ theory picked up the most steam. The tragedy of Daenerys is that she's not an inherently bad person. Calling her Mad Queen is reductive and annihilates any complexity her character possesses but it is unfortunately a catchy nickname. But Daenerys is not mad. She is not crazy. But when she snaps she is not as sound and sane as she'd ideally be. She is the unfortunate product of her own storyline and that storyline is nothing but sad.

To comprehend why Daenerys has come to this point we need to remember that:

Burning has been a favorite thing of her since, well.. since her dragons could burn things. And even before. That's her favorite weapon, the one which always works and solves problems. That's also her strength as she subjugates people through fire. During her time in Essos most viewers had no issues with fire as a weapon. We had a mostly detached approach to it and we were concentrated on Daenerys' POV. And then Season 7 happened and suddenly we were on the other side - the receiving end of death by fire. And it was horrible. Yes she fights with dragons because she has them. Why not use them? That's her biggest asset. That's how she instills fear in people and how people instantly respect her because otherwise you’re roasted. Now fire as a weapon is an awful means but as demonstrated with wights it can be a positive thing. Just not on humans.

Burning cities is not a new idea. She has mentioned it as early as Season 2 at the gates of Qarth and it has appeared in conversations during Seasons 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Most of the time she refrained from it because she actually could not do it yet or because someone else talked sense into her.

She had everything and she lost everything. Her time in Essos shaped her, built her and it raised the bar too high for herself. As she said, she had love there - the slaves she liberated adored her, recognized her deeds and worshipped her. The cities she conquered, the Dothraki, the few people from Westeros who came to her to swear fealty, it all created a false sense of expectation of what would happen in Westeros once she set foot on it. Only it was the biggest disillusion of her life and the biggest irony. Exiled on a foreign continent where she rose the highest but didn't want to stay there and once she finally gets on the continent she wants to be on, it's all over. Jorah once suggested that she settle for a peaceful life far away and she refused. Already she set herself on her own fateful path.

She has come full circle to having no one. Throughout the whole show Daenerys built herself a second family consisting of people she trusted and who - unfortunately - propped her up more than they gave her real advise, fueling further her sense of entitlement. Daario encouraged her to execute people, Jorah and Ser Barristan admitted that innocents ought to die in wars and Missandei’s last words are nothing but the continuation of this trend, the latest in a series of ill-advised words of council. And now ? 'A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing'. Season 8 has not been kind to Daenerys as she has lost Jorah, Missandei, her second dragon and half of her armies. Then she learns that the man she loves is actually another contender for the Throne and that perhaps he didn't love her at all. Her remaining counsellors, she doesn't trust or she doesn't listen to because they question her decisions or act in ways she doesn't approve, something she's not used to.

She feels betrayed by Jon. Their last scene together in Dragonstone seemingly puts an end to the relationship as Jon’s behavior reveals he cannot return her feelings - anymore? Or did he ever have feelings at all? Daenerys’ take on their couple was already flawed as she had no right to ask him to keep, not just any secret but his entire identity, hidden from his own cousins. But her final words to him - ‘All right then. Let it be fear’ - are revealing of her state of mind and her acceptance of the fact that if she can’t make people love her, they will at least fear her; words that are foreboding of what happens later and also to be contrasted with a famous quote - from the books - where Sansa thinks to herself ‘ If I am ever a queen, I'll make them love me’. Notice that in this episode she once again wears a three-headed dragon pin and chain and that her hair does not cover it anymore; she had it either hidden behind her hair or taken it off entirely in previous episodes.

She's unhinged. All of the factors mentioned above are enough to make somebody snap. Daenerys is a benevolent person at heart but her ambition has always been greater and her pursuit of the Throne has clearly overshadowed the better aspects of her personality for at least one season now. It's doubtful she came to King's Landing with the intention of killing thousands of innocents. But the culmination of her losses combined with her earlier resolution to revert to fear if she can't have love is enough to explain her behavior. Does it justify it ? No. But she is only a human after all.

That's not saying that is was executed perfectly either. It's no secret that Thrones had a big problem with time during its last two seasons and one can argue that crafting two shorter seasons was deliberately walking itself into these problems. While The Bells and The Long Night thankfully aren't affected that much, they suffer from the consequences of those time constraints. The battle against the White Walkers has been a sure thing since the beginning of the show. Yet the storyline finally started to really revolve around it only during two or three episodes at most. Arguably Jon's Season 7 storyline was all about it but the urgency of it only kicked in during Season 8 and compared with Daenerys' downfall, it was still spread throughout 3 episodes. The final unraveling of Daenerys essentially took place over the course of only one episode. That's not saying that the path wasn't laid out beforehand; just that some more time spent witnessing Daenerys go from bad to worse would have helped. At the end of The Last of the Starks Tyrion mentions that Jon will take weeks to reach the South. When The Bells begins he has arrived and we see Daenerys in the most despondent state we've ever seen her. Seeing that evolution would have been helpful.

Daenerys is in the end like all characters on the show, not entirely good and not entirely bad. She is capable of empathy, love, respect, kindness, fighting for goodness and at the same time, able to display ruthlessness, coldness, entitlement, stubborness, joy in inspiring fear in others and giving in her worst impulses. What makes the pill so hard to swallow is how Thrones portrayed her in the majority of its course before seemingly veering away a bit too abruptly. But the foundations were always there; Thrones just chose to carefully disguise or mask them until the very end. The choice will likely remain controversial in the years to come. And that’s not even the first time that happens. During Season 7, Arya and Sansa were stuck in a badly received plot which seemingly pitted sister against sister before it was revealed in the season finale that this was actually a big play to corner and execute Littlefinger. On paper, the trick must have worked wonderfully; on screen, it was at best frustrating, at worse infuriating because the reveal only came at the end, which hardly helped explain the Stark daughters’ actions all season long. Daenerys’ turn is only a larger example of this, spread throughout the whole series instead of a season.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves

Fans of Revenge will be familiar with this quote but one can’t help but think of it; it actually applies well for The Bells as a nice way to analyse how different characters behave in the episode.

The most obvious example is for the Hound and the Mountain who finally come to the long overdue Cleganebowl. The final face off between the two brothers has been a long foreshadowed event, anticipated for seasons now and a rather thick plot armor that shielded the Hound from any untimely demise he might have suffered otherwise. With so many expectations regarding this specific fight, it thankfully delivers but it's the end that is the most surprising. The Hound has gone through one of the most beautiful character developments on the show to the point of him becoming a fan favorite. So of course against the Mountain we naturally root for him. And he is ultimately stronger than his brother. Unfortunately for him, few things can kill his zombie sibling now. But the climax of the fight is one that ultimately is a sad, though fitting one for the Hound. Losing him hurts but beyond that, one must recognize there was no other ending for him. The man was not a good man. A flawed one, a redeemed one? For sure but as he told Arya, he's been consumed with revenge all his life. His whole existence was built towards one goal - killing his brother. Confucius’ philosophy applies here; the Mountain would have died like Cersei regardless of the manner. But the Hound was so consumed with it he couldn't let go of it. That the two characters die together is a testament of how intertwined they were; that they tumble down into a brazier is ironic and puzzling given the character's fear of fire but one can indeed read this as poetic as well.

In the end, the Hound was destined to die. More than Jaime - who had a shot at surviving beyond these final battles - the character had literally no purpose for the aftermath. He had made peace with those most important to him (Arya, Sansa, Beric, Tormund), learnt and accepted that he could fight for good and come to the closest thing to love for another being he could achieve. The climax of his overall arc comes through a touching scene with Arya to whom he imparts this piece of wisdom on revenge, and in the process finally restores some humanity to the girl who had come so close to become an emotionless killing machine, as consumed with vengeance as he was. She in turn calls his name for the first time, signifying his importance to her. Arya has been without any parents, without any guiding figure for a long time, during what should have been her most crucial, formative years. Sandor was perhaps the closest thing she had as a father figure - not an ideal one but one nonetheless.

Furthermore, the contrast between Arya who chooses to give up on her quest for revenge and Daenerys who instead gives in, is food for thought, especially ahead of the series finale. Another character we should be worried about is the grief-stricken Greyworm who throws whatever is left of his soul into the battle for his Queen, mercilessly slaughtering foes who had literally surrendered before his eyes. And the Northern forces, so far portrayed as good, are seen participating alongside foreign warriors in arguably Westeros’ most horrifying event since the first sack of King’s Landing. Jon, who gets a jolt of character consistency back, unsuccessfully tries to restrain his men, being noticed in the process by Greyworm. He goes on to save a woman from being raped by one of his own men, in a scene curiously reminiscent of the Hound’s rescue of Sansa during her near-rape scene in Season 2. In any case, the series finale will show us how Greyworm’s story ends but from what viewers can see, it’s not going to be pretty.

The things we do for love

In an episode that features another pair of siblings reuniting for a different purpose, a nice contrast can be drawn with the Lannister siblings. Similarly to Daenerys’ treatment, Jaime and Cersei's ending drew controversy as to how the deed happened and how their character development seemingly flew out of the window. Viewers were arguably distraught over Jaime's actions in The Last of the Starks where he seemingly completed his journey away from his sister by finally getting with Brienne, the one character instrumental to his redemption, only to leave her at the end of the same episode (though they will want to remember again that the episode spanned over several weeks). It was difficult to accept that after so much time building up his redemption, so much difficulty to get away from Cersei, the show would revert to push him back into this toxic relationship.

But that's forgetting who Jaime is as a character and that's also forgetting what show we are watching. Like the Hound, Jaime is not a good man. A redeemed man ? Yes, we could arguably give him that. But if we need it (and we do) he reminds us himself; he is a man who pushed a boy and crippled him for life, a man who murdered his own kin, was willing to kill thousands, just to get back to his sister/lover. This is a man who also saved millions of lives (and though he somehow proceeds to tell us he never cared for others, it curiously does not contradict it that much; one is perfectly capable of not caring for others while at the same time recognizing that genocide is inherently a bad thing), a man with a code of conduct, a man of honor and this duality in the character is its whole richness. A Jaime that finally lands on one of the two sides loses its appeal. The Jaime that ends up happily ever after with Brienne, a woman he recognizes is a better match for him, is nothing but wishful thinking. There was never going to be a happy ending for him because he is far too complex a character to have a fully defined ending. He is hateful like his sister, hateful of himself and he feels he hasn't earned his happy ending and he's right. His last act is one of love though, as he makes sure Brienne does not follow him into the grave, even if that hurts her in the process.

Ultimately, Jaime is not the Valonqar, the little brother who would slay Cersei. He doesn't return to King's Landing to finish her, he returns to King's Landing to be with her. Because in the end, that's the essence of the two of them. Come into the world together, gone from the world together - fitting and poetic. The relationship was toxic but as many have pointed out, the longest and most stable in the entire series and however damaging it is, such a relationship is hard to get rid of. The show ironically follows a rather realistic approach here. In an episode that features Thrones' own version of the end of the world as they know it, Jaime and Cersei dying together is very much in line with who they are as characters. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Lena Headey's acting once again must be commended because they really sold it this well. Headey remains Thrones’ most powerful actress, gradually going from confident and - as always - blind to what literally happens before her eyes to a sad, despondent state as realization finally creeps in. Interestingly (or perhaps intentionally) this specific episode portrays Cersei in a rather sympathetic light (notice that nowhere during this episode does she wear the crown or her armor), the image of a woman who sees the last of her world crumbling down, which draws viewers' pity on a character previously so reviled due to her past actions they wished her dead sooner rather than later. And yet, during this penultimate episode she seemed rather powerless to do anything about the inferno that rained down from the sky.

Here be dragons, fire and blood

That the episode is so well-crafted and enthralling helps hide the weaknesses in these developments. When focusing on the characters only, Jaime and Cersei ending together is fitting. Narratively and in terms of the wider story, it seems to make little sense, that much everyone agrees on. Or does it? Quid of the younger more beautiful Queen? What of the prophecy that said Cersei would be undone by her brother? Well, if we want to twist the facts, Jaime did lead his sister under the city where they died when everything crumbled around them so in a way, he is responsible for her death and so is Tyrion who freed his brother in another instance of ‘things we do for love’ so that he could join their sister. The scene in question is a reverse of the one where Jaime previously set Tyrion free at the end of Season 4, with both times, the former prisoner going on to kill a family member, directly or not. But Cersei deserved more than this kind of death. One could draw a parallel between her most infamous action - incinerating her enemies trapped in an exploding building - and the fact that she now dies trapped in a crumbling structure, a parallel that brings The Bells even closer to The Winds of Winter when you remember that the last time bells rang in King’s Landing, it was also to signal the beginning of an unknown yet horrific event.

But that's hardly enough. A gruesome execution was not necessary as wished by some fans - indeed, an execution by Daenerys would have been too much and once again, the show keeps in line in denying us and the characters what they want - but a death more fitting for the character would have been preferred. Cersei was never a warrior. She took down her enemies through scheming, and devious plans. She relied on her wits. That in the end she would be taken down by an enemy that proved too great for her was a given but most fans bet on Tyrion or Sansa who also use their intelligence to outdo their foes, which would neatly explain why these two reconnected and were put on the bench during The Long Night, and why their action scenes were cut - because they were to be instrumental in the downfall of their mutual enemy. They also would have tied nicely into the prophecies surrounding Cersei, Tyrion as the Valonqar and Sansa as the younger more beautiful Queen. And what an absolute irony that would have been if Cersei had somehow groomed her replacement herself. A final confrontation between Cersei and Sansa would have been fantastic. Instead, the show pits Cersei against an enemy she is not on equal footing with, the cinematography illustrating it quite literally as the screen alternates between two women dressed in red, one high in her castle, the other even higher on the back of her dragon. Cersei dies, not at the direct hands of any of her brothers, nor those of Sansa or Arya (whose presence in the city is in the end, not to kill Cersei but to amplify the empathy we feel for the inhabitants that she joins in trying to escape the burning capital), and not even those of Daenerys. But the result is quite straightforward; for all the preparation, all the fighting back, all the defence you can do, all the mercenaries the Iron Bank (remember that ?) can get you, you're no match for a dragon. How frustrating.

Let's stop and talk about those dragons now. If Drogon alone is capable of removing all the ballistae and the entire Iron Fleet by himself, what was the point of killing Rhaegal then ? Evening the odds is not even a working answer now since we can see that even down to one dragon, Daenerys is clearly overpowered. In doing so, we're treated to a frustrating, illogical death and we're denied a more proper death during The Long Night (if Rhaegal really had to die) or a Dance of Dragons with Jon claiming him (what was the point of Jon flying him if it didn't come into the plot later on?) and fighting off with his aunt. The so-called Dance of Dragons, over which so many fans theorized for years, has instead been adapted for The Long Night as a fight between two surviving dragons and their undead sibling. [Let’s pause a bit now. At some point, Drogon and Rhaegal are flying through a storm and nearly crash into each other, conveying the sense of disorientation and blindness surrounding them. How cool would it have been if we then saw Viserion fly by, circling them but only seen in glimpses?] In any case, the fight-off happens and the whole sequence deserves high praise. Sapochnik’s use of close shots is smart and the night setting does really help - some wider shots in subsequent episodes taking place in daylight betray the use of green screen - but it’s really the sound department that has to be commended for effectively conveying the violence of a gruesome fight and generating empathy for a fantastical CGI beast crash-landing in pain.

And another one behind whom to rally

Aside from Miguel Sapochnik who made the best direction possible for these two episodes, there is at least one other man fans will agree has been consistently good and that man is Ramin Djawadi. Thrones' composer has elevated the music each year and this final season is no exception. The new piano piece The Night King has already shot up to stand firmly beside Light of the Seven as another one of Djawadi's iconic pieces, widely recognized as an instant masterpiece that really did serve the episode well, even if it apparently bears some resemblance to the man's work on Westworld. Piano has been used sparsely in the show, appearing for the first time for Light of the Seven, a cue so widely praised and recognized it generates far more applause during the live concerts that the composer performs than any other cue. Its use here signals once again that something is going on. Like Light of the Seven, The Night King builds slowly to its climax but where we diverge is that in the former, the end is already known as Cersei's wildfire plan is divulged on screen, whereas in the latter we have no idea if the Night King is going to kill Bran or not. It's another proof of the excellence Djawadi offers on the show. The rest is equally thrilling, with the use of electronics and drums to underscore the battle scenes - instruments largely unfamiliar to aficionados of Thrones’ much more violin-dominated score. Djawadi has come a long way since the beginning of the series. Now at the end of it, he has no difficulties in proving his mastery of the themes he composed, effortlessly blending and intertwining them at will. Needle, Ironborn, Vaes Dothrak, Dracarys, Lord of Light... all these character cues appear at one point during The Long Night whether subtly or taking the front, rising dramatically throughout the episode before its stunning conclusion.

But if The Long Night arguably boasts from featuring The Night King, Djawadi's Season 8 masterpiece, The Bells displays another range of the man's skills. In this crucial episode where so many characters take turning points, Djawadi shows how shrewd he is and - in a poignant and devastating way - how easily he can manipulate music at will to serve the story. With Daenerys' dedicated cues, Djawadi apparently - knowingly or unknowingly - participated in the series-long deceit over the character. The score for Daenerys mirrors her journey in the show, starting quiet during Season 1 before gradually growing, incorporating more and more militaristic drums and grand fanfares. It has been instrumental in pushing viewers in one direction - the one where Daenerys was believed to be the hero of the story. Djawadi's score in Season 7 - the beginning of the end for Daenerys - continues to illustrate the point. Most of the character's musical cues continue the trend of majestic grandeur and heroic action while also introducing the beautiful Truth theme but it's in The Spoils of War - the sole Daenerys cue underscoring her so far only real war interaction with Westeros - that things become interesting. During the scene, Daenerys' forces fight against the Lannister armies and while it is a resounding victory for Daenerys, the score pushes viewers to an unsettling feeling as it intertwines Daenerys' triumphant cues with a more sorrowful rendition of The Rains of Castamere. Viewers are meant to sympathize with Daenerys' foes and the show clearly frames the horror that has been unleashed upon them by lingering on shots of people dying in atrocious pain as they burn alive. For the first time, Djawadi starts directing the audience somewhere else. Where the music seemingly follows what the show went for is the prominent use of positive music revolving around Daenerys while offering literally no negative counterpart. Furthermore, Djawadi is no stranger in using silence in the show, usually following a very intense moment, as a way for viewers to process the action on screen. But silence is as meaningful in other areas and Djawadi expertly knows when to use it. Notice in Season 7 how Truth permeates literally every scene Jon and Daenerys share - a not so subtle way of presenting their love story. In Season 8, the theme returns once in the first episode. Afterwards, nearly all of their scenes together are silent. Djawadi refrains to score them to convey the message that these are no more romantic, that there is no positive subtext there. The cleverness of the process is that Djawadi never tried to help presenting any negative Daenerys scene too overtly. Looking back to Season 7 for example, none of her scenes where she appears in a rather negative light (not listening to her counsellors, her stiff first meeting with Jon, her threatening Varys...) are scored, or otherwise they feature only small unsignificant variations. Djawadi uses silence instead of an overtly negative version of her themes, a cunning way to serve the story's interest in not alerting viewers of Daenerys' downsides. In The Bells, he finally allows himself to twist his themes into deformed, unsettling, almost malevolent versions. Truth thus returns in an altered state that conveys no romance at all anymore and Daenerys' learning of Varys' betrayal is underscored by an eerie take on her former theme Reign. In doing so, Djawadi's music mirrors the path the show took for Daenerys' character arc - deceiving viewers during almost the entirety of the show by amping up Daenerys' positive aspects while refraining from overtly showing the rest, only to finally unleash it at the very end.

What's interesting in The Bells, when compared to The Spoils of War, is that Bells removes Daenerys' POV completely the moment she starts burning the city. This is mostly done to side almost exclusively with the citizens of King's Landing and the protagonists who must survive the catastrophe (Arya, Jon, Cersei, Jaime...) whereas Spoils still balanced between Daenerys' POV and the Lannisters' POV, which allowed Djawadi to mix the triumph of the former with the sad ending of the latter. In The Bells, the sacking of King's Landing is entirely scored by sad, tragic variations of character themes with a minimum use of battle score since this is actually no battle. There is thus no victorious cue either. Instead, the score focuses on the Lannisters, the Hound and Arya. Jon’s theme is also absent, signifying his current state of mind and the uncertainty about who he is. The Rains of Castamere and Light of the Seven notably return with new variations that add a sense of tragedy and ending romance that really help the last scenes Jaime and Cersei share together. I Choose Violence accompany Cleganebowl and Jon sounding retreat features a desperate version of the main theme while Goodbye Brother's sorrowful notes end the episode as Arya, free of her desire of vengeance, can finally be Arya Stark again before seguing into a mashup of the Lannister theme again during the credits. For all the controversy surrounding the episode, Djawadi unanimously displays masterful work.

In the end, The Long Night and The Bells may go down amongst the most divisive episodes of Game of Thrones. They may be the flawed culmination of the show's main arcs, defying expectations in thrilling, exciting but also painful, twisting ways but they definitely represent what Game of Thrones is - a global phenomenon that went far beyond anything that could have been predicted and which will inevitably please some and disappoint an even greater amount of others. ‘If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention’, Ramsey once told us. This should be a guiding thread for the final surviving characters' storylines and make us wary for the series finale.

736 notes · View notes