#iron thrones

[ironlily1413]

Elia Martell with Aegon Targaryen/ Rhaenys Targaryen with Balerion

They deserved better!

[emmaziadarcy]

[synchodai]

HBO's Continued Insistence on Dumbing Down Westerosi Politics

So there have been countless thinkpieces already on how GOT simplified the feudalist politics of Westeros (by giving a lowborn sellsword lordship over The Reach, by having no consequences for destroying the Sept of Baelor, etc.), but I haven't seen a lot of people talking about that for House of the Dragon.

The worst being that the show presupposes that Rhaenyra is the lawful heir when the books showed there are plenty of lawful arguments why she wouldn't be.

Mind you that I've been enjoying the show a lot so far. This is just to vent out my frustration with the writers' failure to fully engage with the values and protocols of the Middle Age-inspired setting. The show seems uninterested in laws of the Realm in a story ostensibly about politics, save for when they're using it as an excuse to amplify depictions of sex and violence.

Blacks vs Greens wasn't a matter of misunderstanding of who each side thought Viserys wanted on the throne. It was the Targaryens' belief of their absolute authority clashing with the Realm's established traditions. Everyone always knew who Viserys chose as heir. In Fire and Blood, Grand Maester Orwyle said as much when he was parleying with Rhaenyra on behalf of the Greens.

Rhaenyra heard his terms in stony silence, then asked Orwyle if he remembered her father, King Viserys. "Of course, Your Grace," the maester answered. "Perhaps you can tell us who he named as his heir and successor," the queen said, her crown upon her head. "You, Your Grace," Orwyle replied. And Rhaenyra nodded and said, "With your own tongue you admit I am your lawful queen. Why do you serve my half-brother, the pretender?" Munkun tells us that Orwyle gave a long and erudite reply, citing the Andal law and the Great Council of 101. Mushroom claims he stammered and voided his bladder. Whichever is true, his answer did not satisfy Princess Rhaenyra.

(For non-F&B readers: Munkun is the Grand Maester who served Aegon III, the king who came after this civil war. Munkun's book, The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, is one of Fire and Blood's source texts. Mushroom is the King Landing court jester from Viserys I to Aegon III's reign. One is a source written with academic rigor but is secondhand at best. The other is a firsthand eyewitness account but is from a literal fool who will take every chance to make things more scandalous and sexual to please the crowd.)

In House of the Dragon, they replaced Orwyle with Otto and Orwyle's discussion of legal precedent with Otto handing Rhaenyra a book page from Alicent. It's quite evident here that the writers, much like Mushroom, thought a discussion on the actual laws of the Realm were negligible in this story about a succession war.

Even Alicent made no pretense that Viserys chose Rhaenyra over her children and I have no idea why the HBO writers decided to make her mistakenly think otherwise. Maybe they thought a queen regent pushing her son to take the throne over another woman made her appear unsympathetic as a character, but if anything, this only makes show!Alicent less politically savvy and more delusional than her book counterpart, fully believing an addled king's vague muttering on his deathbed was sufficient grounds to change heirs last minute.

Book!Alicent following Andal laws instead of her husband's wishes makes sense given her Andal upbringing, her devotion to the Faith of the Seven which enforces said laws, and her desire to protect her children from Rhaenyra given that Rhaenyra has shown she's not above murdering family (see: Laenor).

In the books, there was a long discussion between the former king's council on who should succeed Viserys.

Here are the arguments for Rhaenyra:

Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood

the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens

hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.

Here are the arguments for Aegon II:

many of the lords who had sworn to defend the succession of Princess Rhaenyra were long dead [...]

Ironrod, the master of laws, cited the Great Council of 101 and the Old King’s choice of Baelon rather than Rhaenys in 92

the hallowed Andal tradition wherein the rights of a trueborn son always came before the rights of a mere daughter

Ser Otto reminded them that Rhaenyra’s husband was none other than Prince Daemon, and “we all know that one’s nature. Make no mistake, should Rhaenyra ever sit the Iron Throne, it will be Lord Flea Bottom who rules us, a king consort as cruel and unforgiving as Maegor ever was [...]”

Should the princess reign [...] Jacaerys Velaryon would rule after her. “Seven save this realm if we seat a bastard on the Iron Throne.”

Once again, the show chose to cut out this long political discussion. Instead, the council had already made up their mind and decided to stage a coup (when in their perspectives from the books, it would definitely not be a coup).

For all their marketing how two sides are equally grey, HotD is actively delegitimizing Aegon II. The strongest argument for him is how his claim follows the laws of the Realm, but the show doesn't seem to care about the laws of the Realm or the political need to maintain a more predictable/tested transfer of power.

Instead, the show focuses on Viserys's relationship with his daughter and the mysticism of the Targaryen bloodline. In doing so, they emphasize Rhaenyra's strongest arguments for succession — that she's more of a Targaryen than her half-brother and that her father prefered her.

And what for? Because in our modern-day, we don't have male-prefered inheritance and people can only imagine misogyny as the only injustice here? What about the injustice of a monarch exercising absolute control, thinking that his "superior" heritage makes him above the established laws of the native people?

This is not to say Aegon II is unquestionably the heir. But this is to say that the show removed the political nuance of why people are questioning in the first place. Precedence isn't the end-all-be-all of succession, but neither is "because daddy said so".

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

BTS S2 TEAM GREEN — OUR FAMILY.

OLIVIA COOKE: “This is the best cast that I've worked with. I love them so much.”

TOM GLYNN-CARNEY: “Couldn't have asked for a better bunch of people to be honest. It's been like one big happy family.”

[andy-clutterbuck]

requested by Anonymous

[annoyingbird22]

dragon riders are the horse girls of fantasy

[thewatcher0nthewall]

The Grim Lady of Pyke

[a2zillustration]

I'm stupid.

I'm stupid and it made all these cutscenes awkward I'm so sorry Wyll.

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[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

[darejani-artist]

KING AEGON SECOND OF HIS NAME 👑

[rainingriversofyou]

“Like a roaring star, he thundered down the long shoot, and Manon moved with him, meeting each gallop of his powerful body, each step in time with the beat of the wyverns locked in the belly of the mountain. Abraxos flapped his wings open, pounding them once, twice, gathering speed, fearless, unrelenting, ready…

Fast as lightning arcing across the sky, he plummeted toward the Gap floor…

Down into hell, into eternity, into that world where, for a moment, she could have sworn that something tightened in her chest. She did not shut her eyes, not as the moon-illuminated stones of the Gap became closer, clearer. She did not need to. Like the sails of a mighty ship, Abraxos’s wings unfurled, snapping tight. He tilted them upward, pulling against the death trying to drag them down. And it was those wings, covered in glimmering patches of Spidersilk, that stayed strong and sturdy, sending them soaring clean up the side of the Omega and into the starry sky beyond.”

—Heir Of Fire

“First Flight” Artist: @madschofield

[mirrorhouse]

fun date ideas

[ironlily1413]

Rhaenyra, Rhaena, Baela and Rhaenys ( the Black Party)

Part 3

[goldensunflowe-r]

You've no right to a braid!

You've won no victories yet!

My rightful queens don't need to win any victories because they already conquered our hearts.

[lady-amalthea-antoinette]

Rhaenys will always be the true Queen. Her ability to see the bigger picture and her commitment to avoid spiteful behavior is something everyone on that fucking show needs to learn from. Knowing she had to be murdered for some moron rapist would-be king that shouldn't be anywhere near her throne will never ever sit right with me. Even as she marches off to her death she does so in stride and without complaint, literally offering herself up willingly. Even as she is disrespected by the man she loves, and has been faithful to all her life, in plain view for everyone to see. She still manages to show her husbands bastard more humanity and respect than his own deadbeat father. She has done nothing to anyone. She did not raise hell when her throne was taken, she simply accepted it and chose to hold no spite in her heart for her cousin. Opting for peace always, as a true leader should. When her daughter and son were taken she mourned alone, abandoned for six years by a cheating husband who claimed to love her dearly. Worst part is he did love her, but in the end he was just another man that didn't know what else to do but take from her without listening. In the end all she really had left was Meleys, and she had to watch her die too.

I'm actually so sick rn this is such foul work, we didn't even get to see her say goodbye to her beloved granddaughters. Or even a real goodbye with Corlys :/

[dcsmdcsm]

So real yet so sad...

Brothers love VS Brothers rivalry

[andy-clutterbuck]

The Ones Who Live | 1x03 - Bye