#illyrio mopatis

[leomitchellart]

'Magister Illyrio murmured a command, and four burly slaves hurried forward, bearing between them a great cedar chest bound in bronze. When she opened it, she found piles of the finest velvets and damasks the Free Cities could produce . . . and resting on top, nestled in the soft cloth, three huge eggs. Dany gasped. They were the most beautiful things she had ever seen, each different than the others, patterned in such rich colors that at first she thought they were crusted with jewels, and so large it took both of her hands to hold one. She lifted it delicately, expecting that it would be made of some fine porcelain or delicate enamel, or even blown glass, but it was much heavier than that, as if it were all of solid stone. The surface of the shell was covered with tiny scales, and as she turned the egg between her fingers, they shimmered like polished metal in the light of the setting sun. One egg was a deep green, with burnished bronze flecks that came and went depending on how Dany turned it. Another was pale cream streaked with gold. The last was black, as black as a midnight sea, yet alive with scarlet ripples and swirls.  "What are they?" she asked, her voice hushed and full of wonder. "Dragon's eggs, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai," said Magister Illyrio. "The eons have turned them to stone, yet still they burn bright with beauty." 

A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II

[wyattabernathyus]

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Thinking about poor, doomed Young Griff and how it’s not even important if he is or isn’t Rhaegar’s real son. Because what makes him a fake goes beyond blood - it’s really down to intent and experience. He’s a poor rich man’s Aegon V, but like without the organic hero’s journey.

He’s a lab experiment pretty much. However well intentioned he is, there isn’t much indication that his journey has been authentic. Varys and Illyrio are trying to recreate Aegon V with a fake...literally down to the “let’s hide his hair” scheme. They even gave the boy Aegon’s freaking name (it’s a king’s name after all so I can’t blame them). But they missed like the biggest, most important lesson of all. Aegon V CHOSE to go out. HE made himself, no one else did. His journey was organic as it was derived out of his own autonomous decisions, not manufactured down to the smallest detail (does YG really know what it means to starve and be homeless and hunted?). And there was no promise of a reward (I.e., kingship). Egg didn’t know that he’d be king and even after his dad rose to the throne, there were a ton of people ahead of him. FFS he’s called Aegon the Unlikely. Bro just woke up one day and was like “ay wouldn’t it be nice to actually experience this realm from the perspective of a disenfranchised person?”

Meanwhile, our poor Young Griff is being made to go through all this with the expectation that it’s all going to pay off when he becomes king. BUT (big but!), who’s to say that he actually gets it? Like does he really get why he needs to see how this horrible feudalistic society preys on the smallfolk and makes corpses out of them? Wait, does he even know or recognize that the system needs changing? Like did Varys and Illyrio just tell him “people poor” and leave it at that? Why are they poor Young Griff? How did they get there?! Do Varys and Illyrio even get it? Do they understand that Aegon V was a radical change maker?

How hollow is it that it’s not Young Griff making the conscious decision to actually try and see how his subjects live. He’s not making the conscious decision to be a change maker, no matter what Varys and Illyrio say. People in this fandom will talk about how Young Griff will be the perfect king but…perfect for whom? In what way? In a series that critiques this entire system, what about YG screams that he’s going to actually tackle some of the systemic issues that need tackling - the systemic issues that Aegon V tried to tackle after organically going through his own journey?

WELLLLL….isn’t it cool that Jon and Dany are the true heirs to Aegon V’s legacy not because of blood, but because they actually get to the heart of Aegon V’s journey? Say what you want about them but they are radical as it gets (Jon at the Wall and Dany all over Slaver’s Bay). No one manufactured them. No one told them they had to care about people. No one told them they had to do this lab experiment to become king/queen. They actually did their own thing, while themselves being disenfranchised (GRRM identifies both as outsiders). And without the expectation of a reward (like Jon is literally told that his entire life will basically amount to nothing).

And it’s even better that they were unlikely. Young Griff is meant to happen - well someone is pulling the strings to make sure he works. He’s taking the role of someone who was always meant to be king - for Rhaegar’s son was meant to be king. But Jon and Dany are actually following the Aegon V blueprint because they weren’t meant to happen. Jon is a second son who is presumably a bastard with a contentious claim, and Dany is a daughter who was never meant to survive being sold off to slavery let alone rise to queenship. Neither one of them was meant to be on the throne. No one told them to do the things they did. No one took them and placed them in the positions they’re in. They rose to the occasion by themselves and made changes by their own volition - just as it was with Aegon V. And what makes it even better is that just as Aegon V was chosen to be king, so were Jon and Dany (Jon was literally elected into office and basically won over the wildlings while Dany was dubbed “mhysa” because of her actions in Slaver’s Bay).

[carcrash-white]

Cersei shenanigans I'm manefesting for TWOW:

Genna Lannister regency.

Fucked up love affair with Tyene Sand.

Not taking The Aegon cause seriously at all.

Making Illyrio Master of Coin.

Minor diplomatic incident when she refers to Illyrio as Prince of Pentos, implying he's going to be sacrificed at the first sign of trouble.

Making the worse marriage offer ever (Euron) asked to leave Kings Landing

Being accused of killing Grand Maester Gormon (did this one).

Being accused of killing the High Sparrow (didn't actually do this one).

Thinking the mutiny against Jon Snow was her doing.

Major diplomatic incident when she congratulates the mutineers against Jon Snow.

The Faith using Lanncel at her trial by combat thinking she'd never let Robert Strong obliterate her cousin.

Getting Robert Strong to obliterate her cousin.

Choosing Nymeria Sand as hand to spite the Tyrells (female Dornish bastard) unaware this is the worst decision she made since blowing off the Iron Bank.

Pushing Margarey of a cliff.

Having Tommen see her push Margarey off a cliff.

Not taking Mycella being disfigured well at all.

Moon of 5 Kings Version 2

Sacrificing Illyrio at the first sign of danger.

Leaving to Casterly Rock to wait for this Aegon bussiness to all blow over :)

[goodqueenaly]

It's like poetry something whatever but also comparing and contrasting Ned and Illyrio in their approaches to Jon and Aegon, respectively.

(Obviously, this post is based on the ideas that both Jon is the biological son of Rhaegar and Lyanna and Aegon is the biological son of Illyrio and Serra, as well as the notion that Serra was herself a descendant of the Blackfyres.)

Ned’s outlook for Jon centered on embracing Jon as his son, to the absolute exclusion of his birth identity. Whatever Lyanna’s exact dying words had been to her brother, Ned certainly seems to have interpreted the promise as one to keep Jon safe, without the revelation of his biological parentage. From the first, Jon would know himself only as Jon Snow, with all the implications the name carried; with Jon’s surname designating his (ostensible) bastard status and his first name reflecting his (ostensible) father’s own personal history, Jon’s identity would be wholly defined by and linked to Eddard Stark. Yet Ned would not merely craft a surface-level identity for his sister’s son; he himself would actively, indeed fiercely embrace his own role as Jon’s “father” in more than just assumed genetic paternity. Far from fostering Jon with a pliable aristocratic family elsewhere, Ned installed Jon in Winterfell even before the arrival of Catelyn and their own son and sternly defended that position to his new wife. Jon would grow up as an undisputed (at least to Ned and the Stark children) member of the family, educated by the same maester, trained by the same master at arms, present for the same hunting trips and political responsibilities. Never would Ned hint that Jon belonged, at least by ancestry, to the royal dynasty which had ruled Westeros for three centuries (and dominated in Valyria for millennia prior); Ned would treat Jon only as his son, relying on the firmness of his decision and Jon’s own Stark appearance (inherited from Lyanna, but easily attributable to Ned himself) to maintain the assertion.

For Illyrio, however, his son Aegon has represented not the chance to accept a paternal role but the opportunity to invent a grandiose dynastic destiny for him. We cannot know, at least for now, if Serra sought a promise from Illyrio regarding Aegon’s future, or if Illyrio himself believes that he is acting as Serra would have wanted, but it seems highly improbable that Serra asked that her son be raised to believe that he was in fact the child of the last Targaryen crown prince, and take the Iron Throne as such. Illyrio’s decision to do exactly that may therefore represent a sort of betrayal, perhaps spiritual if not actual, to Serra’s (again, I think probable) Blackfyre origins, and a distinct contrast to Ned’s choice with Jon: aware that Aegon’s female-line Blackfyre credentials would earn him little if any political support in modern Westeros, Illyrio has instead appropriated a false identity for his son that Ned saw in truth for Jon but rejected - that is, the boy as the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, a would-be heir to this father’s legacy. If Illyrio raised (or, perhaps more accurately, oversaw the raising of) Aegon as a young child in his own Pentoshi manse (evidenced by those musty children’s clothes and Illyrio’s old knowledge of Aegon’s favorite candy), such (relatively) hands-on rearing I think ended rather early: Varys brags to the dying Kevan that “Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk”, and (politically charged boasting aside) Aegon’s extensive education certainly suggests Varys may not be exaggerating too greatly here. Illyrio, unlike Ned, not only found (alongside or thanks to Varys, of course) a willing, indeed eager Westerosi aristocrat to act as the hidden Aegon’s foster father (with that figure even giving Aegon a name derived from his own, likewise fabricated, alias), but clearly specified that the disguise was to remain a surface-level illusion: Aegon is well aware that he is (so he believes) a Targaryen prince, and that his life on the Rhoyne is no more than a secret training ground for his eventual Westerosi royal inheritance. Where Ned remains the central figure of Jon’s life - not only as his (again, assumed) father, but the only parent he knows - Illyrio functions little if at all in the thoughts of Aegon: he is the faraway benefactor whose chests contain the gold to fund his expedition, the unseen planner whose schemes are derided by Tristan Rivers. Each boy may have inherited his mother’s looks, but where Jon’s Stark features only underline the connection between himself and Ned, Aegon’s Valyrian appearance only serves to enhance Illyrio’s argument that he is, in fact, Rhaegar’s son.

[thesunwillshineonusagain757]

𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗔𝗨- 𝗔 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗙 𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘

So this is the second entry on the next book for West Essos. For those who don’t know this is the city where Daenerys is at the start of game of thrones. I actually liked this a lot, but it’s kind of very complicated to do it so it might not be a daily series anymore like once or twice a week so tell me if you guys like it. I liked doing this a lot and next year I plan on doing this again. So Merry Christas to everyone ( because in my country we celebrate 24 and 25 ), and happy New Year.

WEST ESSOS. BRAAVOS. MYR. VOLANTIS. LYS. TYROSH. STEP-STONES. QOHOR. LORATH.

[paintnpending]

Illyrio Mopatis, Magister of the Free City of Pentos. The Lord of Cheese. "Not all that a man does is done for gain. Believe as you wish, but even fat old fools like me have friends and debts of affection to pay."

Big Pentoshi Santa Claus. A simple model, but touched by a little of Varys pastel pink. Enjoyed touching up the flush on his face.

[jedimaesteryoda]

Serra was Illyrio’s second wife, a sex slave from a pleasure house in Lys, and likely Aegon’s actual mother. She was a Blackfyre in the War of the Roses parallel of Margaret Beaufort, likely Daemon IV’s daughter sold into slavery after Maelys’s coup. 

Serra’s story sounds much similar to Daenerys’s: a young girl of Targaryen blood in Essos whose (proclaimed) royal father was deposed by a distant cousin, and then sold into marriage as part of a plan to take the Iron Throne. 

She did succeed in having a living son unlike Daenerys, but she never got to see him grow up as Illyrio states about her tragic death:

"A Braavosi trading galley called at Pentos on her way back from the Jade Sea. The Treasure carried cloves and saffron, jet and jade, scarlet samite, green silk … and the grey death. We slew her oarsmen as they came ashore and burned the ship at anchor, but the rats crept down the oars and paddled to the quay on cold stone feet. The plague took two thousand before it ran its course." Magister Illyrio closed the locket. "I keep her hands in my bedchamber. Her hands that were so soft …"

I think just as he doesn’t mention the actual details of her identity and the reason Illyrio married, he also may have been fibbing about her death. The best lies have bits of truth, the truth being the grey plague likely may have happened at the time. Note, he mentions that a plague came to Pentos, yet he doesn’t state that Serra herself got sick. 

At the end of the chapter, Tyrion sings a song by Symon Silvertongue threatening to reveal his secret about the sex worker who became his mistress, Shae. Shae herself (understandbly given her situation) betrayed him, and he would end up killing that very woman with the gold hands of the Hand's chain.

"A Braavosi trading galley called at Pentos on her way back from the Jade Sea. The Treasure

For she was his secret treasure

"I keep her hands in my bedchamber. Her hands that were so soft …"

For hands of gold are always cold, but a woman's hands are warm

Just where was the galley headed? As Illyrio said, it was on its way back to its home port of Braavos, a historical refuge for escaped slaves. 

Cutting off body parts with the tongues removed for little birds is part of Illyrio and Varys’s modus operandi, but it must be noted that the cutting off of one’s hands is the common punishment for thieves. What did Serra try to steal?

The thing of most value to Illyrio and Varys: Aegon.

While Illyrio and Varys were all in on the plan to crown Aegon, just what were Serra’s thoughts on it? The plan involved taking her young son from her for perhaps indefinitely to be raised by strangers to pursue the Iron Throne, a quest that has only resulted in death and disaster for her family.

Serra may have tried to run away with an infant Aegon to Braavos. Illyrio’s house slaves may even have helped her escape. Of course, Varys and Illyrio found out and stopped her, killing the crew on the ship. They would have been undoubtedly mad that she almost undid years of planning, and she likely threatened to reveal their secrets as a desperate last attempt. By that point, she had given birth to Aegon and fulfilled her part in the plan, so they didn’t need her anymore. 

They likely killed Serra, and Illyrio kept her hands as a memento. Serra was used a brood mare for her house's cause and when she tried to exercise some agency, she was murdered.

[rainhadaenerys]

Daenerys' storyline by Onirio - Part 1:

1) The Doom (Daenerys I AGOT);

2) Reception for Drogo (Daenerys I AGOT);

3) Dothraki wedding (Daenerys II AGOT);

4) The Dothraki sea (Daenerys III AGOT);

5) The horse gate (Daenerys IV AGOT);

6) The womb of the world (Daenerys V AGOT);

7) You taste it first (Daenerys VI AGOT);

8) My sun and stars is wounded (Daenerys VII AGOT);

9) The dead will dance here this night (Daenerys VIII AGOT);

10) What life is worth when the rest is gone (Daenerys IX AGOT).

[warsofasoiaf]

Who do you think will be the human endgame villains? Petyr and Varys for a certainty... Euron? Cersei? I think Melisandre is the woman envisioned next to Euron in The Forsaken, so i anticipate a ramping up of blood on her hands in the future

I think Baelish is going to get exposed by Sansa and take a trip out the Moon Door, just as he did to Lysa.

Varys is getting blown up in King's Landing, literally having his plans go down in flames. Illyrio is going to get got either by Daenerys or one of her followers - maybe the Tattered Prince.

Cersei is getting killed by Jaime the valonqar.

The Boltons are being taken out by Stannis in the Battle of Ice. Whether Ramsay murders Roose or not is an open question, but at the end of the day, Stannis will hold Winterfell when the Wall falls.

Euron, I'm not sure. My guess is that he takes Oldtown, but dies shortly thereafter. He's a big cosmic villain, but he's second banana to the Others and they do not share top villain casting.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[knightsickness]

the varys is young griff’s mother (bald to hide blackfyre hair) and illyrio is the father theory paints such a beautiful world. good for them

[asoiafreadthru]

A Game of Thrones, Daenerys I

“I shall kill the Usurper myself,” he promised, who had never killed anyone, “as he killed my brother Rhaegar. And Lannister too, the Kingslayer, for what he did to my father.”

“That would be most fitting,” Magister Illyrio said. Dany saw the smallest hint of a smile playing around his full lips, but her brother did not notice.

Nodding, he pushed back a curtain and stared off into the night, and Dany knew he was fighting the Battle of the Trident once again.

[wyattabernathyus]

Quick sketch:

Introduction of Varys and Illyrio was like: "I've only known the Spider for two minutes, but if anyone touches him, I'll chop everyone in a salad."

[thewatcher0nthewall]

The Fat Magister of Pentos

[satinoflowers]

arya watches an evil lover’s tiff AGOT