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lives4lovesworld · 1 year

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This meta will highlight GRRM own bias and double standards when it comes to his (= the narrative's) judgement of Aerys II Targaryen, as well as the insincerity of the fandom's obsession and exaggeration of Aerys II's "madness" and cruelty.

GRRM singles Aerys out in his cruelty and has it directly linked to his unstable mental state, which is quite ironic(?) if one i) actually consideres how normalized violence, collective punishment and arbitrariness in ASoIaF world is. Yet few and far between are actually mad, and even fewer dubbed as such, and ii) puts his in direct comparison to other characters, which are never condemned as much as Aerys (if at all) by the narrative. And the fandom naturally doubles down on GRRM hypocrisy (given how anti!Targaryen it is) and insists to exaggerate Aerys's madness in every sense to one up against Daenerys Stormborn.

Aerys is condemn for his preferred method of execution. The fandom even goes so far to write numerous metas arguing death-through-fire somehow is crueler, worser and morally more appaling than any other method, especially when it's a Targaryen monarch to use it. This absurdity as already been refuted a couple of times in the context of defending show!Daenerys burning large parts of her enemies in the field, instead of the having her men exclusively killing them in battle. But as always it falls on deaf ears, since this hypocritical fandom holds Targaryen (and only Targaryens) to modern standards, to the point where they are condemn for executing their enemies. PERIOD.

And Aerys is the biggest victim of this absurdity. Both within the fandom (since nobody cares for him, no one defends him in pointing out the double standards) and narrative (since Daenerys has, unlike what the fandom conjuncts out of thin air, never burned anyone but Mirri Maz Duur and is a rescuer above all so GRRM obviously does and can not condemn her for deeds she didn't commit).

For example, he and Stannis Baratheon have both burnt their hands for "bad counsel during the war". Qarlton Chelsted was burned for his objection against Aerys's plan to torch King's Landing and Alester Florent for the letter that offered Stannis's full surrender (x) to House Lannister, after his lethal demise at the Blackwater (x). Stannis's hand was even his kin (through marriage) and in killing him, he committed one of the gravest crimes in their world. Yet Stannis is neither condemn as "mad" for the execution nor for the kinslaying nor the style of said execution.

The only thing GRRM seems to condemn Stannis for are his reasons behind all of his "sacrifices"; which is to misuse the power of death for his own personal gain. Be it to murder Renly to avoid defeat, take a rival out and gain his army, for favorable winds for his expedition, put a stop to the blizzard or gain dragons/be Azor Ahai. Although all of Stannis's misfortunes in his failing campaign for the Iron Throne (his demise at the Blackwater, his inability to gain anyone's genuine support, House Karstark's betrayal and the blizzard) could be interpreted as narrative punishment, Stannis's reputation (as a righteous, capable man) within the narrative never suffers.

The fandom as well has no qualms how Stannis let his uncle be burned alive in order. Especially, those that refuse to accept that Stannis is in fact NOT Azor Ahai, do not even condemn for that. It's excused as "means to an end" or "products of his time". Another prime example of the fandom's blatant hypocrisy and double standards one might add; While members of House Targaryen are condemn for the use of magic, especially blood sacrifices, and Daenerys is even accuse of burning people alive and kinslaying without this being the case, Stannis is allowed to utilize (blood and dark) magic, (consider) murder and burn people as he pleases, (consider) kinslaying (nephew, brother uncle-in-law and in the future his own daughter) and still be proclaimed the Right Man to Rule™ and altruistic TKwC.

Somehow in the fandom's nonsensical moral belief system Aerys depriving sadistic pleasure in watching men burn makes it apparently morally more appaling than Stannis's religious frantic, megalomaniac reasoning ("for the greater good") behind his executions (and given the fact that he is in fact NOT Azor Ahai/The Chosen One one could argue all these sacrifice are completely in vain.)

Aerys's cruelty is not unique for the ASoIaF world. And more importantly, I would dare to say that most of his "atrocities" such as i) the annihilation of House Darklyns and Hollard ii) the maiming of Ilyan Payne iii) his execution of Brandon Stark, Rickard Stark and their escort and his call for Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon's heads and iv) him prohibiting Elia Martell and her children to leave King's Landing, would not be seen as one of a madman, if Aerys's mental decline would have NOT been as apparent.

i) Lord Deny seized his King, killed his escort and subjected Aerys to torture for about half a year and threatened to have him killed in hopes to get the desired charter for Duskendale granted, that had been denied.

This was unprovoked high treason and broke all the laws such as the sacred guest right, the king's peace and all vows to obey and defend the king. How exactly should a king have dealt with such an uprising and insult to his person and political power? Which ruler would have suffered such grand affront, without exerting harsh punishment? Which ruler could have even allowed himself to be merciful, if it meant he will be seen as a weak king, signaling to the rest of the realm that one can take the king captive and hold hostage and get away with it?

To put in perspective; Robert Baratheon brutally smashed Balon Greyjoy's rebellion, burnt their homes, broke their castles, raped and murder the common folk and lastly gave Balon's last son as hostage to Eddard Stark to secure Balon's submission (x) after his elder brothers were slain. House Reyne and House Tarbeck were both in debt to House Lannister. Soley to restore House Lannister's prestige, Tywin demanded immediate repayment from them, (hostages if it was not possible). Both houses refused. Despite Tytos Lannister settling the matter, Tywin deliberately provoked both houses by ordering their respective lords to answer to Casterly Rock for their crimes. When refused, Tywin (without the leave of his lordly father!) raised an army and started his war of annihilation. The ruins of these houses' castles were left as reminders of the fate that awaits those who scorn the power of Casterly Rock, and "The Rains of Castamere" was written as a tribute to the event. Stannis Baratheon considered torching and raiding Claw Isle as punishment for its Lord bending the knee in captivity and House Stark extinguished House Greystark when it rose in rebellion together with House Bolton.

None of these extreme violent acts are deemed as "[their] terrible revenge" nor are these men seen as mad, cruel or unfit. And mind you, no one of these men experienced captivity and torture on their own person.

When one such reported that the captain of the Hand's personal guard, a knight named Ser Ilyn Payne, had been heard boasting it was Lord Tywin who truly ruled the Seven Kingdoms, His Grace sent the Kingsguard to arrest the man and had his tongue ripped out with red-hot pincers. - TWoIaF; The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

ii) The maiming of Ilyan Payne is seen as way too extreme even for ASoIaF (only exclusively by the fandom) and as "Aerys being unable to hear the hard truth", despite a monarch (unfortunately) being well in his rights to teach his subject "respect", if he openly mocks his better, extreme violent punishment from a ruler being normalized as sign of strength and a warning to any potential rebels.

The crimes everything boils down to;

The full depth of King Aerys's madness was subsequently revealed in his depraved actions against Lord Stark, his heir, and their supporters after they demanded redress for Rhaegar's wrongs. Instead of granting them fair hearing, King Aerys had them brutally slain, then followed these murders by demanding that Lord Jon Arryn execute his former wards, Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark. - TWoIaF; The Fall of the Dragons: Robert’s Rebellion

iii) While the inverse-annals are clearly baised, GRRM has made it clear that Aerys is responsible for the rebellion (x), and that his call to execute them all was another product of his cruelty and paranoia. Which omits any nuance the situation had such nuances as;

Brandon and Rickard were on their way again back to Riverrun for the impending wedding between him and Catelyn Tully, when word reached Brandon of Lyanna's supposed abduction by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Brandon, along with his squire Ethan Glover, Kyle Royce, Elbert Arryn, and Jeffory Mallister, rode to King's Landing immediately. Upon entering the Red Keep, Brandon shouted for Rhaegar to "come out and die". Rhaegar was not present, however, and Brandon and his companions were arrested by King Aerys II Targaryen and charged with plotting Rhaegar's murder. - awoiaf.westeros.org; Aerys II Targaryen: Year of the False Spring

A paramount lord and his heir barging into the royal court of a king (half of which would rather dethrone him and most did not see him as the ruler of the realm) and brazenly demand the crown prince's head BASED ON RUMORS alone in front of said court. For a supposed crime that stands in direct contrary to what is known of said heir (x, x, x).

While it's a well established fact that this fandom only intrest is to present House Stark as poor, oppressed, altruistic and wronged victims and House Targaryen as the evil warmongering lunatics, it is still mind blowing to see people glorify Brandon's stupidity as Protective Big Bro Thang™, talk how he should have escape the situation unscattered (because they believe the starks are the Main Characters™ and should have all the Syndromes (like plot armor) of one) and his execution being yet another uncalled atrocity of Aerys's madness, when Brandon literally has committed high treason through his rash actions. Even Catelyn call Brandon's action "rash" and his would-be father-in-law Hoster Tully called him a "gallant fool" for it.

A highborn father that would have politely ask them to lay out their complains (again) behind closed doors so he might calmly listen to these allegations and their wish to see his oldest one dead after the spectacle of their entrance, has yet to be named by obnoxious neutrals and "intellectuals" preaching such scenario as the solution to this fiasco.

Realistically speaking, what should Aerys have done with a paramount lord, his heir and their escort breaking the king's peace and threatening House Targaryen's power by demanding the Crown Prince's head? Insulted this gravely that they about to rise in rebellion with mighty allies. When it comes to this situation Aerys had been caught between a rock and a hard place;

He could have a) dismissed the accusations, let them go home and have the realm think of him as weak. Home to their seats, where hot headed Brandon would have likely raised the north in rebellion anyway and whose brother's foster brother Robert Baratheon would have likely joined him for his wounded pride. Risk the riverlands to stand with them as well for their siege lord's daughter Catelyn would have wed Brandon Stark. Possibly the Vale too, for Jon Arryn's beloved forster son's brother has raised in rebellion and his bride is Lord Tully's other daughter and Brandon Stark's sister in law. Or b) use this incident to dispose his 'disloyal son', so his chosen heir Viserys would have less threats in his ascend on the throne later on, yet simountanastly signaling the realm that one can demand a Targaryen prince's head based on rumors alone. Establishing a most dangerous precedent for the future of House Targaryen.

What might have salvage the situation without an all-out-war or an unacceptable, most dangerous precedent for House Targaryen('s might) would have been to dismiss the accusations. Instead of summoning the fathers of the escort and executing them all along with Rickard and Brandon, he should have send them to the Wall (which would have made Eddard Lord of Winterfell) and send for Benjen Stark as cupbearer or squire at the court (so he might functions as hostage over the North).

And even this might have not have worked for i) it would have been still a too mild punishment for conspiring to murder the Iron Throne' heir and ii) for they could have just refuse to take the black once at the Wall, return to Winterfell with the help of the Night Watch and call to war anyway (though House Tully and Arryn might have been more reluctant to join them in such a scenario)

Do these nuances make Rickard, Brandon and Co's execution less gruesome and the call for Eddard and Robert's death morally justified? No, but they show that they could have been committed by a sane sovereign too. But instead of being seen as actions of a madman they would have been seen as too-harsh (failed) precautions. (IMO Tywin and Stannis would act the same way in such a situation with the big difference that they would be cold and caculative, whereas Aerys had become aroused)

Princess Elia would have gone as well, but he forbade it. Somehow he had gotten it in his head that Prince Lewyn must have betrayed Rhaegar on the Trident, but he thought he could keep Dorne loyal so long as he kept Elia and Aegon by his side. - TWpIaF; The Fall of the Dragons; The End

iv) Same with iii) if one was to look at the political situation (especially before the rebellion) and analyze Aerys's actions without dismissing them all as one kf a deranged lunatic, this particular action was actually quite savvy.

Prior to the rebellion, the royal court had been devided into two parties; the king's and the prince's;

Chief amongst the Mad King's supporters were three lords of his small council: Qarlton Chelsted, master of coin, Lucerys Velaryon, master of ships, and Symond Staunton, master of laws. The eunuch Varys, master of whisperers, and Wisdom Rossart, grand master of the Guild of Alchemists, also enjoyed the king's trust. Prince Rhaegar's support came from the younger men at court, including Lord Jon Connington, Ser Myles Mooton of Maidenpool, and Ser Richard Lonmouth. The Dornishmen who had come to court with the Princess Elia were in the prince's confidence as well, particularly Prince Lewyn Martell, Elia's uncle and a Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard. But the most formidable of all Rhaegar's friends and allies in King's Landing was surely Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. - TWoIaF; The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring

Essentially the Second Dance of Dragons was brewing;

To Grand Maester Pycelle and Lord Owen Merryweather, the King's Hand, fell the unenviable task of keeping peace between these factions, even as their rivalry grew ever more venomous. In a letter to the Citadel, Pycelle wrote that the divisions within the Red Keep reminded him uncomfortably of the situation before the Dance of the Dragons a century before, when the enmity between Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra had split the realm in two, to grievous cost. A similarly bloody conflict might await the Seven Kingdoms once again, he warned, unless some accord could be reached that would satisfy both Prince Rhaegar's supporters and the king's. - TWoIaF; The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring

So contrary to the fandom's insistence of Aerys's reason behind his prohibition for Elia and the children to leave the capital being unreasonable paranoia or malice (or even godamn racism??), Aerys was smart. By ensuring that they were located in the capital, he gave the dornish forces a reason to defend it (essentially ensuring his survival) then had Elia and the children been safely in Sunspear or Dragonstone, they would have had no reason to continue to fight (and be slowly overrun) for the defense of King's Landing if the only one remaining there was the king that had disinherited Rhaegar's entire lineage and proclaimed Viserys his heir after Rhaegar death at the Trident (ergo putting an end to Dorne's hope to size the Iron Throne through a Martell-Queen Consort and later a half Martell-king).

Also contrary to the fandom's insistence on how Aerys's cruelty and paranoia breaks even Westeros's norm in taking hostages in war, even from his supposed allies and families (through marriages) is not unusual; the kings of the Winter are known to have taken child hostages to secure their subjects' submission, Quentyn had been given to Lord Yronwood as "blood debt" by Doran Martell. Theon had been taken hostage by Eddard Stark to ensure his father's submission. The Redwyne twins have been taken hostages by the Lannister court to ensure their father's loyalty (to lend them his fleet in their war). Where is the condemnation for them? Also contrary to the fandom's insistence highborn hostages, especially those who are considered family members are also not treated badly. They experience most of the privileges their birth and status grants them. Cases such Sansa in King's Landing and Jaime in Riverrun are the expection, not the rule.

But what is to expect from a fandom that lays the blame for Elia Martell and her children's gruesome murders on Aerys Targaryen (her father-in-law and their grandfather) and Rhaegar Targaryen (her by-then dead husband and their father) instead on the heads of the rebels like the liege lord of the men to commit the murders (Tywin Lannister) or the self-styled king (Robert Baratheon) who sanctioned these murders later (going so far as to making mentioned liege lord his father-in-law)?

Aerys II Targaryen has always been exclusively presented by the fandom as this horrendous sadistic monster without a heart. Every act of his a epitome of stupidity and cruelty with Aerys's madness as an inevitable by-product from coming from an incestuous union, despite this not supported being the text.

Aerys Targaryen was not born that way. His mental state in his later years was a product of the immense trauma he experienced throughout his entire life; from witnessing the death of his entire family when he was 15 years old, to being powerless as he and Rhaella were forced to suffer still births, miscarriages and dead babes in the cribs to his imprisonment and torture in Duskendale (x). The justified constant fear of being dethroned by his own son (x) and the feeling of never being deemed worthy or competent enough by others to the point where he not even seen as The King (x) likely only added to his instability and cruelty.

His paranoia, especially concerned Tywin Lannister and Rhaegar Targaryen, was also anything but irrational; Aerys was not in the wrong to mistrust Rhaegar as he later planned to dethrone him, which could only result in Aerys’s death should Rhaegar wish to ascend the throne as comfortable as possible. Nor for being wary of Tywin Lannister, who gambled with his life at Duskendale in hopes to get Rhaegar on the throne with his daughter as his queen. (x)

Aerys was not a fool to prevent Tywin from becoming Rhaegar’s father-in-law. Before the rebellion, they were the biggest threats to Aerys’s reign. Not only did he prevent an alliance between his two greastest threats, in giving Rhaegar Elia Martell to wife. The princess to the least densly populated kingdom (which is quite hated by the more "civilized" southern kingdoms such as the Dornish Marches, Reach and Stormlands for their blood feuds (x,x)) and with a small army, he also prevented Rhaegar from gaining exponentially more support had he married a noble daughter from a house with more wealth, resources and men (like Cersei Lannister)

And mind you (!) had Steffon Baratheon succeeded in finding a "maid of noble birth from an old Valyrian bloodline" in the Free Cities, Aerys would have given Rhaegar's a woman to wife that has absolutely no ties to any kingdom (which would have given him no political advantage beside whatever wealth her family would have had across the sea) and who would bee seen as 'foreign stranger', similar to Larra Rogar, Viserys II's wife.

Such a choice at the time was politically quite savvy: His supposed heir secured the succession without shifting the power balance too much by preventing Rhaegar from amassing even more support through an more politically advantageous match. That this choice later on backfired in the face of an external political threat (e.g. the rebellion) was unforeseeable and unfortunate.

Jaime's rise to a kingsguard was as well a less then perfect solution by Aerys for his (justified) fears; in appointing Jaime as kingsguard he had gained the most valuable hostage against any possible rebellion from Tywin Lannister, but he also had to endure Tywin's son day and night as shadow. Aerys seemed to have played by the motto "keep your friends close, but your foes closer" with Jaime as he had previously done with Tywin, whom he had refused to dismiss as Hand or accept his resignation (x, x) and suffered greatly from it (at first mentally, later with his life). (x)

As said, the reason why I wrote this meta was to showcase the imsincerity of the fandom's obsession and exaggeration of Aerys II's "madness" and cruelty, as well as to point the nuances that are often overlooked simply because Aerys was mad.

Afterall, how comes that Aerys's cruelty and madness is more empathized than anyone else's by the fandom? Where does the intrest and obsession for it as well as the need to deliberately twist Aerys's relatively peaceful reign (x, x) into one of terror unseen before come from?

Simple because Aerys's cruelty and madness must be given such great narrative and political importance, and his reign must be one of the darkest times yet, so when dany antis proceed to write their "metas" of how of Daenerys will be rejected by Westeros, never know home or love, become the-hidden-mad!queen-all-along™ and step into her father's foot steps by torching King's Landing and committing mass murder, have a "basis". The first one is even more ridiculous considering that Rhagear was beloved during his days, and is still, despite actually living under Aerys's roof till his 16th birthday, unlike Dany.

Nothing more, and one knows so because the same people won't predicted the same for their tool-character "Aegon VI" who is the Mad King's supposed grandson and son to Prince Rhaegar, whom most of them condemn just as harshly for whatever headcanon (pRophECy oBbsEsSed, vIsenYa) that has been treated as canon for too long. Not to mention that there is an abundance of characters whose fathers were horrible, yet there aren't daily posts on a character's utter mental decline based upon their father's flaws. (bioessentialism)

In conclusion and defense of Aerys II Targaryen; i) he is as much of a victim of tragedy and cruelty than he was an enabler, ii) his paranoia was not unreasonable iii) his cruelty is not at all unique for the medivial ASoIaF world nor in comparison to other characters. In fact neither his paranoia nor his cruelty makes him stand out in his madness, but rather his manic-depressive behavior iv) how his mental state does not render all of his decisions as one of a mad man.

I would also like to say that a forced abdication of Aerys decided by a Great Council with Rhaegar ascending the throne would have neither be the perfect solution as it is often presented. Had his abdication gone relatively smoothly (which would NOT have necessarily be the case (x)) it would shaken the laws and rules of Westeros to its core.

As the first Great Council had done it, it would have given the lords of the realm again the idea and power to decide who is to rule them. Which would have not be the positive, progressive, humanitarian step towards democracy as most mistake it but path a way of war and instability ambitious, vile lords would have misused for their own gain yet again.

If the first Great Council had established an iron precedent on the matter of succession, than such a second one (in which the lords could abdicate their rightful king because they are not content with him) would have path the way for any man to inherit his male relative's position if he manges to convince enough of his subjects to abdicate their current sovereign and put him as his heir (as son, brother, nephew, grandson etc...) through bribery and whatnot.

An era of chaos unseen would follow. Just imagine what the lords of the realm would have done with a king like Aegon V that would robb them some of their absolute power through his reforms. It would hollow out the crown of any power to protect and serve the small folk (be it through humanitarian reforms, against its lords or plan costly, necessary infrastructure)

The wars such as the Wot5K are a direct result of the illegitimacy of Robert's rebellion and how it had shaken Westeros's laws. Instead of the once rather cemented hereditary monarchy, Robert opened the door for Westeros to be wreaked by every sovereign that believes he can muster enough manpower to establish himself a self-styled King. (x)

IMO instead of gathering a Second Great Council, Rhaegar honestly should have just found a discreet way to have his father's poisoned. Although this would have been OCC for noble, valiant Rhaegar and quite harsh to expect from a son to do to his father (no matter their estranged relationship) it would the most practical decision.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #targnation #aerys ii targaryen #robert's rebellion #rhaegar targaryen #elia martell #tywin lannister #robert baratheon #eddard stark #rickard stark #brandon stark (son of rickard stark)#jon arryn #house darklyn #house hollard #the defiance of duskendale #sack of king's landing #this will definitely become my most controversial meta (the way I will be canceled for this-)

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melrosing · 2 years

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Do you think its fair to say Jaime was complicit/responsible in Tywin's war crimes (Raynes of Castamere, sack of Kings Landing, Riverrun) because he kept staying by his side while he was alive, and didnt revolt against him? (ftr this question doesnt steam from any fandom fight, at least not recent, and not on tumblr if you're worried)

I think this is an interesting question, but reaching the answer always feels weirdly mathematical, leaving out the human element of 'what would you do if you were Jaime'. To me that's the more interesting question, and I think it's the one ASOIAF more often poses.

Like Jaime genuinely can't help who his dad is: the Reynes of Castamere happened before he was born and Tywin ascended to his seat as Lord of the Rock when Jaime was like... one, so he's basically been born into war crimes. It doesn't matter if he likes his dad and what he does (and plainly he doesn't) - this is just a grim reality that's out of his control. He doesn't like that his father employed the bloody mummers, or Gregor Clegane, or what happened to Elia, Rhaenys and Aegon... but what can he do, his dad's this godlike being, the most powerful man in the country (even if Robert nominally is), and that is the way Tywin has chosen to do things.

And if he were to revolt... well, I think Jaime is disillusioned by the alternatives: the KG were corrupt, Robert's corrupt, Aerys was Aerys - so whatever, he's a Lannister and so he's Tywin's team, it is what it is. That seems like a pretty real resignation to me - someone whose ideals were crushed at a young age just strips things back to their bare bones and decides he's on his family's side if he's on anyone's, so fuck the rest.

But obviously in ASOS Jaime's forced to confront exactly what Tywin's legacy meant for Westeros and what it has meant for his family, and that instills more conflict in him over his complicity. So following Tywin's death, again, there's the fact that he hates the allies Tywin's made them (the Freys, Sybell Westerling, etc) and admires the Starks' allies (the Tullys, the Blackwoods, Jeyne Westerling, etc) and wants peace and order and crops for the smallfolk... but the fact remains that if he wants to protect his family, he has to uphold Tywin's legacy - because that is the fragile foundation of their security.

If he doesn't preserve this, his children, sister and extended family have about five minutes left on this earth. He can say he wants peace and amends but men like Brynden Tully fundamentally do not believe him capable of it, so in AFFC we see Jaime regularly struggling with doing what he has to do in the way he'd prefer to do it whilst convincing everyone else it's Tywin's way of doing things, because that's the bluff that's holding all this together (until it isn't).

Because it fundamentally doesn't come down to whether Jaime is or even wants to be complicit or not, it comes down to what will happen if he's not. And now that he's pulled away from the Lannisters to run off into the woods on a zombie adventure with Brienne... what is going to happen to his children. What is going to happen to Cers. What, most imminently, is going to happen to Genna and Daven lol. The answer is nothing good, because they were only safe as long as Tywin's campaign of fear lived on, and it died with him. Unfortunately Jaime was born at the start of that campaign of fear and so born into complicity, with everything he loves as a stake in that. and IMO this is so much more interesting than just pointing at the various stages in the narrative where he could've gone 'fuck you dad it's your dream not mine'

#ask #jaime lannister #asoiaf #also thank you for letting me know this is not drama sourced lol #good to know I won't be getting any visits from that random ass blogger again

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marirey17 · 3 months

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So my goal for this year is to get back into writing again. Several things last year kinda of made me realize that the fact that I have trouble with writing isn't not a me problem. It is just how writing is. And that I should give it a try again. So I am going to give it a more serious try. Now the problem of what to fucking write.

Sure I could finish the WIP from years ago but I am not really in that fandom anymore. Maybe one day I will pick it up again. But instead I am just going to write down some ideas here. From one my notebook of fanfic ideas. I should find my other one that has more fic ideas in it.

In no particular order lets go.

Percy De Rolo being pen pals with Anne Riply- I always imagine that the bit of Percy life that we saw in the campaign/show was the cleaner version of the events. I am full conspiracy theory that Percy was closer to Riply before murders. It never really made since that the Briarwoods just somehow got a dinner invitation to a very influenational noble family like the DeRolo's. It makes sense that they planned on how to inflitrate. Corrupting a tree from inside. The betrayel of incredibly smart Percy who feels left out of the family. He isn't the heir, he isn't particulary worldly, or physically strong. He is the smart one. Enter Anne who at first is just humoring then goes 'oh shit' he is smart and tries to corrupt him. Lots of ways this can go. Percy whump is one of my favorite things to read. This is probably only going to be pre canon.

Percy Seven Swans AU - I love the seven swans myth. So family cursed instead of murdered. Definitely not canon. Orthax requireing Percy to make Automatons? Chain mail, Mech hearts? Or resisdium stuff.

CR Campaign 2 Avatar Au - This is so bare boned in my book. All I have is Cad being bullied and a few elements assigned to people. So pass not gonna do this one.

CR Campaign 2 Soc Media AU- Yeaaa noooo I like Soc Media au. But this has even less than the avatar au. Just premise no prompts. Also modern au's are hard for me to write.

CR Campaign 2 - Caleb is a prince of the Dwendalian Empire. This is a headcannon that I have. But it doesn't make much since for Trent to be as obessed with Caleb as he is. Sure Caleb is a flawed prodigy. But to keep him alive for 10 years in a mental ward instead of killing him? Why do that? Makes more sense if Caleb is an illegiatment prince of the Dwendal family. The current heir is a miltary man right? Makes since he might have children out of wedlock. And his wife is looking for a cure to her fertility problems. What better than a prince you have under your thumb? The Cerberus Assembly is a shadow goverment already. But thats it that all my thoughts. And it would have to be a long fic to do it any justice. There are a lot of Royalty AU's in CR2. But most of them have someone else as the Royal. I also like the idea of Caleb becoming King then abdicating and making a democracy.

Next in old Journal is prompts from a year old Whumptober month. So lets see if there are any gems there.

Kaladin Stormblessed having stitches overgrown from stormlight. Ouch.

Sandry fa Toren from Circle of Magic- dealing with isolation. I think sandry has the hardest time connecting with people. Being a noble and having her friends be away all those years. She doesn't fit easily in noble society and the working class isn't at ease with her.

Midorya from MHA - dealing with chronic pain and challenges from all the injuries he has. This is a possibilty but I am so out of the MHA fandom.

Luffy from One Piece - Rubber has got to changed your sense of touch right? Probably dulls it. No wonder luffy glomps on people if all everything is muted.

2 different Log Horizon fic ideas! - Shiroe was in the game for much longer than anyone else. No wonder he is well known. People think he is an npc but he was just there for longer. And second idea Log Horizon Soulmate idea. The other world just has soulmates. Shiroe and Akasuki. I would have to refresh my knowledge of that fandom.

Hopefully this gets my wheels turning. Also anyone is welcome to grab these ideas and run with them.

#one piece #bnha #fanfic #writing ideas #log horizon #stormlight archive #critical role #tamora pierce #emelan

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aces-to-apples · 2 years

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From the notes of this post:

@this-world-of-beautiful-monsters

Flippant answer:......and what about them?

Short answer: they're coming from a place of inherently bad faith and i block them on sight.

Long answer: If someone is racist then they will continue to be racist until or unless they make a personal decision to either change themselves or allow themselves to be changed by those around them. If i'm a racist person with a "fetish" for brown people then that simply has nothing to do with fictional clones in a galaxy far far away and everything to do with how i treat real actual human people who are alive. Such traits would exist within me regardless of which fictional characters i like to imagine kissing and would be entirely unaffected by people yelling about Oh The Humanity.

Frankly, I think the majority of accusations like the one mentioned above usually stem from one of these two mindsets: 1) "i don't like this/it makes me uncomfortable and therefore i will use buzzwords and innate desire of others not to cause each other harm to make people creating it feel bad for doing so", or 2) "i have trauma stemming from abuse/marginalization related to this thing being depicted, and this thing being depicted is genuinely triggering whatever trauma responses developed from the result of said abuse/marginalization and therefore in an effort to protect myself i will attempt to make it stop." One is lashing out because of entitlement, and one is lashing out because of trauma. Either way, it's still lashing out. It's still interacting with the worst faith imaginable for the sake of personal comfort, and sure, i take the second reason a hell of a lot more seriously but let's be honest, it's impossible to know which reason is behind it because, a) people lie, and b) both groups use the same tactics to achieve their ends: namely stalking, harassment, smear campaigns, and maliciously spreading misinformation. If someone's yelling into a microphone in front of a crowd that they saw goody proctor at the devil's sacrament, i'm not gonna give a shit about why they're saying it because the intended end result is the same.

I know it's become something of a stock phrase by this point but, truly, fandom is not activism. If you want to try to incorporate activism-adjacent education into what you put out into fandom, cool, hope that works out for you. There are lots of posts (and even entire blogs) dedicated to attempting to, for example, educate others in fandom about racist trends, stereotypes, portrayals, coding, etc., that are often found in fandoms and source materials alike. Personally i find them very informative and helpful. Some people will attempt to take that to heart and change their behavior, and some people will ignore it because they don't give a fuck, and an important skill to develop is knowing which one is necessary to not be a shit person.

If someone tells me "hey you wrote lavernius tucker as disliking his first name and considering he's a Black man with an unusual name that takes on a different connotation than it would with a white character" then i'll think about that seriously, come to a conclusion, and say "thank you so much for pointing that out, i didn't consider that at all when writing it and i will now change it and try to keep that in mind going forward." But if someone says "hey you're writing about brown men from unrealistic and fantastical origins finding love, romance, or even just sexual gratification with each other and that's racist and fetishizing because they look a lot alike" then i'll think about that seriously, come to a conclusion, and say "nah, that sounds like bullshit to me."

If i'm ever given to believe that i'm perpetuating some kind of racial stereotype, insensitively portraying characters of color, or harming actual human beings by writing a couple of clone troopers having sloppy makeouts with each other, i'll be sure to reevaluate. Until then, i block anyone i see who makes grand sweeping statements about the moral fiber of people who create fan content of two dudes fucking.

Also, this goes for every one of these types of accusations*: people aren't racist for shipping characters of color together, they aren't pedophiles for shipping minor/adult characters, they aren't abusers or abuse apologists for shipping enemies (or even, yes, canonically abusive characters), they don't want to fuck their relatives because they ship related characters, and they aren't groomers for posting or discussing smutty fanworks on the goddamn internet. Morality and ethics aren't defined by one's fictional interests, or by the microscopic slice of their rich internal life and world they deign to share with others on Tumblr, and fandom isn't fucking activism.

*and anything within fandom that can be defined as an accusation is automatically suspect for these exact reasons

#fandom racism #fandom slapfight #fandom bullshit #replies #by apples #cloneshipping #clonecest #the clones aren't siblings but the term clonecest has a sexy and spicy something to it #this-world-is-full-of-beautiful-monsters #and for the most part that's what i think. i think that covers pretty much all of the bases. it's bullshit and here's why

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sayruq · 2 years

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Hi sayruq. I was wondering if I could ask you a question? I wonder if you know but I wanted to ask if you know when the Aegon = Blackfyre theory came into being and who started it? Because I hate that theory with a passion and because it makes no sense, but the fandom so widely accepts it because of BNFs constantly taking it as canon. I was wondering if maybe it was a smear campaign against the Martells and Dornish and if there is proof for it? I remember there being so many theories on Aegon being alive pre-ADWD on forums but post-ADWD suddenly this theory came into being and the whole fandom just accepts it (even though him being fake serves no purpose in any way, only to make Jon and Daenerys the "Last Targaryens"). So I was wondering if you were active back then and if you were knowledgeable about the origin of this theory? Or if you know someone that can answer this question? I can't ask anyone else about this on any other forums because people genuinely hate the Martells and Young Griff being real so much, I can't stand the toxicity of such discussions (more like Jon and Daenerys stans doing the utmost to insult Elia and the Martells for taking part in the Game of Thrones :/), so I wanted to ask you. Thank you.

I don't know exactly (I think it was the guy who started r/asoiaf) but it started a while after ADWD was released. Like I've always said this theory exists because certain people believe Aegon being the real son of Elia takes away what makes Daenerys and Jon special. The theory doesn't have to make any lick of sense just as long as it assures people that there are only 2 hidden royal members- nevermind that every Stark is in hiding right now or that Varys confesses to a dying man or that smuggling children so that they don't get murdered by a Baratheon king a pretty established pattern- Edric Storm, Gilly's baby, hell even Sansa was snuck out of the city by Dontos but apparently Varys can't manage it with an infant.

If Varys wanted to restore the Blackfyres but he didn't have one in hand, he would use any old baby found in Lys. There's no need for Aegon to be the secret baby of Illyrio and Sera.

#Anonymous #aegon vi targaryen #young griff #dornesolstice #song of ice and fire

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novantinuum · 6 months

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3, 7, 8, 17

Thank u Fwex uwu

~CHOOSE VIOLENCE ASK GAME~

3- screenshot or description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

Okay so this isn't a tumblr thing, but I HAVE to describe this absolute chaos I saw on reddit once-

Basically there was this like... mega BotW Mipha stan who was super into Mipha/Link, and somehow by the end on one reddit thread I briefly glanced through ended up deciding to headcanon that Sidon was ,,, I GUESS??? Mipha and Link's secret love child which-

H-how... does that even work lmafo. I am scared. It just CAN'T work, because Sidon is like... toddler shaped by the time the Calamity in Breath of the Wild history happens. (And Zora age slower than Hylians anyways, so for all we know he'd been alive for like 10-15 years already.) It'd certainly make for... uh, a wild AU I guess, but it was definitely a convo that I was thinking This about as I scrolled past it:

7- what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

So I don't think fandom has made me outright HATE a character, but there's definitely characters or ships that have been soured for me because of fandom tomfoolery. I think the notable ones here are...

-I kinda am like, really ambivalent about the Tenth Doctor (Also the recent Ten Take Three going on rn, who I refuse to call the Fourteenth Doctor lmafoooo) because of years of being sick of everyone being all "omggg the show just isn't as good now that Ten isn't there," and shitting on the Doctors who came after. Like, I used to LOVE him but now I'm just. Eugh. Whatever. It's almost as if I feel it's my duty to be absolutely neutral about him to balance out all the tumblr girlies screaming about how Tennant being back now is going to "save" the show or whatever.

-So very sorry, as I WANT to like it as a chronic multishipper, but Link/Sidon is a ship that has been utterly spoiled for me after all the drama that came from Sidon getting a canonical wife in Tears of the Kingdom. I simply do not want to be part of a shipping community that is that bitter when canon doesn't go their way- like, yeah we all want Nintendo to give some gd representation crumbs, but what else did you expect? Like after a certain point you really do just have to acknowledge that certain pairings are never going to happen bc of company bias and just enjoy your own headcanons for your own mental sanity. And the raging misogyny that came out of people about Yona was disgusting.

-Tragically, Fiddauthor (Stanford Pines/Fiddleford McGucket) was tremendously soured for me due to a loud fringe group of shippers who were very hostile to anyone who dared have headcanons about the two characters that weren't: they are both trans and gay. Like you dare to headcanon Stanford Pines as asexual and aromantic? You want a nonbinary Ford? You dare to headcanon Fiddleford as bisexual instead of gay? Death for you. Hate anons for you. It just got so suffocating that I had to basically drop the ship, which sucked because it was one I was SO passionate about back in the days.

8- common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Hmmm...

King Rhoam is not a good father, nor an abusive monster, but a much more tragic, nuanced third path right down the middle where he and Zelda were close once but he decided to sacrifice his relationship with her in order to campaign for what he believed was more important- the survival of Zelda and all of Hyrule through the activation of her sealing powers. Aka I believe he had to choose between being a good father and being a good king, and in an ironic turn failed at both at once bc he simply didn't have all the knowledge he needed to make the right choices. (His wife wasn't there to provide council to Zelda when it really mattered, and he literally had NO understanding of what she needed.)

To be fair I understand why many in fandom choose to vilify Rhoam in fic, as he does provide a notable moment of antagonism in the Breath of the Wild memories, and it is VERY easy to project one's own personal "bad parent" trauma on such a character while making fan content, but I am wholly of the opinion that making him a one note "shitty father with no redeeming qualities" is perhaps the most narratively boring option as far as canon interpretations go.

17- there should be more of this type of fic/art

Gen fic. This is my answer for every single fandom I've been in. There should always be more gen fic.

Also porn that involves tentacles. This is a wholly self-serving request. Yes, I AM in fact a rapidly swinging pendulum. I want either gen fic or HARDCORE PORN and there's zero in between.

#jen rambles

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sylverwxngs-wp · 1 year

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12 Days of Gifmas!

Day 4, December 16th: Your OC in Another Universe/Fandom

ASTRID EIRA in A Song of Ice and Fire

So, I struggled to figure out who I would want Astrid to be in the ASOIAF universe, so I ended up deciding to show all of the possibilities! Astrid Eira is my super-powered anti-hero OC from my MCU series, The Woes of Heroes. In it, she is the love interest of Loki Laufeyson and is a supervillain turned anti-hero. She has various psionic powers, as well as snake-like physiology and the ability to produce deadly venom, hence the green aesthetic and the sigil and words of the made up “House Eira.”

Her faceclaim is Kathryn Winnick, and given how she looks, there are many possible characters Astrid could be in the ASOIAF universe. Here are the ones I chose and a little blurb about the OC:

Game of Thrones:

Lady Astrid Eira, Lady of House Eira in the North. - Lady Astrid Eira is a fierce woman and even fiercer warrior. Heiress to the great House Eira, she is a very close ally of House Stark. Lady Astrid has always and will always defend the North and fight for freedom and liberation from the rule of whoever sits upon the Iron Throne. She is merciless and will uphold the laws of the North as well as honor the Old Gods. She takes no shit from anyone and will not hesitate to kill someone if they disrespect or threaten her. She has a very fierce reputation. The sigil of House Eira is a dark green serpent on a field of black, and the house words are “Strike with Venom.” - Initially, Lady Astrid was betrothed to Lord Robb Stark, but her betrothed betrayed her and Lord Frey to marry Talisa. Astrid mourned his death and took over his campaign against the King after his murder. As the war rages on, Lady Astrid traveled to the Wall in order to seek possible aid from Jon Snow. During her time at the Wall, she falls in love with Jon and is exposed to the truth of what lies beyond the Wall. When Jon is declared King in the North, Astrid is very bitter about this, as she was the one who avenged Robb’s death and has been leading the war efforts against anyone who dared to threaten the North. This creates a rift between the two. - Astrid travels with Jon to meet Queen Daenerys when she arrives in Westeros and refuses to bend the knee to the queen. She ultimately loses her life at the hands of Daenerys for refusing to submit, but even as she faces certain death in the throat of a dragon, she remains strong and utters her house words before she is lit.

Princess Rhaenyra II Targaryen, sister to Queen Daenerys, Prince Rhaegar, and Prince Viserys, and daughter to King Aerys and Queen Rhaella Targaryen. - Princess Rhaenyra was nothing like her sister, who was kind and compassionate. Rhaenrya was favored by Viserys for her willingness to do whatever it took to secure their birthright back in Westeros, which is why it is ultimately Daenerys who is sold to Khal Drogo, as Viserys intends to save Rhaenyra for a more suitable husband/alliance. Rhaenyra is horrified and very bitter when Daenerys allows her husband to kill Viserys and parts from her sister after the murder. Unable to survive on her own, she reluctantly returns to Daenerys only after the death of her husband and birth of her three dragons. Rhaenrya is motivated by the return of dragons and attempts to hatch her own dragon egg, which she was gifted at her sister’s wedding. After a year of trying, she finally manages to hatch the egg. - Rhaenyra finally hatches her dragon and names her Syraxes, after her namesake’s, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, golden she-dragon, Syrax. Syraxes is a pure white dragon with silver accents and pale blue eyes. She grows at the same rate as Dragon because she too fled from captivity when Rhaegal and Viserion were caged. Syraxes remains alive throughout the series. - After seeing how her sister is growing into a stronger, more hardened ruler, Rhaenyra pledges her support to her sister’s campaign and becomes her right-hand woman. Throughout the series, Rhaenyra pushed Daenerys to make tough, violent decisions to squash her opponents and remain victorious. Rhaenyra and Syraxes are crucial in Daenerys’s efforts to liberate and conquer Essos, as well as conquer King’s Landing. After the death of Rhaegal and Viserion, Syraxes and Drogon are the only two dragons left and together, they lay various clutches of eggs. Syraxes is crucial in the destruction of King’s Landing. - Daenerys’s murder destroys Rhaenyra, who ascends the throne and executes Jon Snow for his treason. Now claiming two dragons as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Rhaenyra forces the North to surrender and conquers all of Westeros, easily squashing any attempts at rebellion. She is a tough but respected queen.

House of The Dragon:

Princess Visenya II Targaryen, sister to Queen Rhaenyra, twin to Prince Baelon, and daughter to King Viserys I and Queen Aemma. - Princess Visenya was the last surviving child of King Viserys and Queen Aemma. She is a lot like her sister, except she is far more volatile and commanding. She doesn’t allow anyone to talk poorly of Rhaenyra, especially after the birth of her 3 bastard children, and she is especially cold to the Hightower-Targaryens. Visenya loathes her uncle Daemon and fractures her relationship with her sister after Rhaenyra secretly wed Daemon and didn’t invite Visenya. - When Aegon usurps the throne, Visenya agrees with Daemon that they need to kill Alicent and her children and take back what is theirs. She believes that Rhaenyra is far too passive. After the death of Lucerys, Visenya goads Rhaenyra with vengeful thoughts and spurs her sister to act violently and mercilessly. - Visenya’s dragon egg never hatched after her birth, which many people viewed as a result of the death that had surrounded her from the moment she was born. Around the age of seventeen, Visenya claimed the wild dragon The Cannibal as her own. This was the same year that her twelve year old nephew claimed Vhagar. The two bonded over their achievements, which King Viserys saw as a sign from the gods that they were intended for each other. Initially, Visenya hated being betrothed to her nephew, for she loathed Alicent and her entire family. For several years, she refused to acknowledge the betrothal and it wasn’t until Viserys died that Visenya reunited with her betrothed and was forced to wed him. After the wedding, Visenya eventually did fall deeply in love with Aemond and produced three heirs during the Dance of the Dragons. Aemond was the only Green that Visenya couldn’t bring herself to harm, as she loved him dearly. She and Aemond were perfectly matched for one another and died together in the battle, leaving behind only one surviving heir.

Based on Astrid’s personality, she would obviously be the most similar to Lady Astrid Eira in GoT, however, I think that exploring other OC possibilities while keeping true to Astrid’s personality was pretty fun :) Kathryn Winnick works really well as a Targaryen faceclaim or as a woman from a Northern house faceclaim! Some of her other gifs can work really well for a Lannister fc too, but I opted not to venture down that route.

As always, this wonderful idea is credited to @vividparacosm and @timotheechalamats!!!

#giffingalltheway #12daysofgifmas2022 #ASoIaF #A Song of Ice and Fire #game of thrones #got #hotd #house of the dragon #targaryen #house targaryen #stark #house stark #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #robb stark #george rr martin #dragons #photoshop #newtaholic

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gemstarstarlight · 2 years

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Hi! *waves*

I go by Crystal! I will also accept Little Plant, as I am small and aromantic asexual (or aroace, to make it faster). I post about a lot of things, and it was getting unwieldy so I wanted to make a quick summary and tag list for ease of navigation!

I made this blog when I was first questioning my sexuality (again!) and wondering if I was asexual. So I post a lot of stuff about that. I tried to stay on theme at first but I like fandoms too much. I've been referred to as the Kpop Jesus mutual. Take with that what you will.

Fandom tags are rather obvious and change a lot (look at the tags at the bottom of this post for things I am currently interested). Personal tags are not. So here’s a quick explanation of all the tags:

#thanks! it’s the trauma: posts that contain any and all discussions of my trauma. Most if not all of my vent posts are tagged with this. Lots of family stuff and unhealthy dynamics, so if you wanna filter out a tag this is the one to do that with.

#mentality love: mostly traditional mental health stuff, but I also tag stuff that’s talking about how to grow your mentality, encouraging learning, or just in general things that help you live a better life.

#*checks for cameras*: reblogged stuff that is Extremely Real and feels like it’s taken directly out of my life.

#pretty pictures: art tag art tag art tag!

#philosophy takes: anything that’s about discussing life concepts, social issues, and how to think about things.

#reblog for posterity: posts that are Pure Gold and entirely too good not to reblog and thus Keep Alive.

#story time: posts I save to read to my grandmother about humans getting into Situations and Shenanigans.

#the sacred texts: posts that are old and gold, the history of Tumblr. I lurked here for 10 years before getting an account, so if I recognize any of the posts from when I was a youngling it goes here.

#current status: the equivalent of Facebook's "what's on your mind?".

#tales of the fellowship: anything related to my Christian fellowship group that I love with all my heart and soul. I do life with these people and it’s great. I also will occasionally tag #christianity content in general with this tag, particularly if it’s a way of thinking that comes up when I’m interacting with people.

#caaaaaaats: I have a son and I have loved him and his kind since before he was born, what do you want from me?

#musicians are just like that: musicians are really cool and talented and also some of the weirdest people on the planet (source: I have a B.A in music).

#americana wildlife: the weird/delightful parts of living in my very strange home country.

#mafia mutuals: a group of friends on Tumblr that just…do wild things together. Or say wild things. Most things under this tag won’t make sense. It’s usually Ink’s fault.

#crystal’s cold weather hate campaign: I hate cold weather. As I write this it is Late September and I expect this tag to collect more posts as the year goes on.

#snowboarding brother: I have two brothers: one of them is an adult who pays bills and likes to go snowboarding and get into Accidents and Shenanigans and Weird Shit. He's very nice, but is unfortunately a Man in his 20s.

#am i asexual?: most of the stuff tagged here is earlier when I first started my blog and was questioning and it’s not a huge tag, but I put it up here in case anyone who is also questioning if they’re ace wants to look through this tag and see how I was processing. Lots of my ace self-doubt and how I was thinking while I was figuring things out.

#allos are space orcs: just a bunch of amanormative/allonormative stuff that flummoxes me. I didn’t even notice half of this stuff until I was questioning and now it’s mostly just hilarious.

#tag game: I play lots of tag games with my friends! They’re very nice when it comes to learning random facts about each other. They’re also extreeeeemely long, as a heads up. This is also where I put polls and occasionally asks.

Anyway, hope this is helpful! Nice to meet you and welcome to my little internet home!

Love, Crystal

#I finally figured out how to link all of my personal tags in my post so here are my more changing tags #or just fandom tags #stray kids #dan and phil #ateez #heartstopper #dimension 20 #critical role #😂😂😂#adhd #lgbtqia #atla

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theeeveetamer · 2 years

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Okay, but now I gotta ask: what *were* the reasons why Dynasty Warriors 6 was considered a bad game by the fandom? Thanks and have a lovely day!

HAHA Yes someone took the bait

*Ahem*

Let me start by saying that I actually love Dynasty Warriors 6. It's an ugly duckling but it has a special place in my heart.

Anyway, there were actually a lot of reasons. I wouldn't say any one of them was like The Thing that killed this game in the eyes of a lot of DW fans, they all just kind of came together to leave a really bad impression.

#1) They slimmed down the cast

If you know Dynasty Warriors for anything, it's probably "Three Kingdoms, button mashing, huge cast". By Dynasty Warriors 5 the number of playable characters was approaching 50 playable characters, which is a lot when you're trying to make individualized movesets for each character. All of these characters were playable in the main story campaign, albeit in often less personalized ways. For example, in Dynasty Warriors 3 you would just pick a character, you would play the story for the faction that character was from, and there was only really slight variation in the cutscenes (inserting your officer into important moments and what not) and MAYBE the maps.

Dynasty Warriors 6 was supposed to be a bit of a soft reboot for the series, and so with that they decided to try and slim down the cast. The game started out with only ~40 playable characters, which doesn't seem like they took out that many, right? But, well, every character is someone's favorite, and they made a lot of very odd decisions with it (For instance, keeping Xiao Qiao but removing her sister, when the two of them always came as a pair in the past). Every previous Dynasty Warriors game also featured new playable characters, but DW6 did not introduce anyone new.

This approach also clearly did not work, because in DW7 they not only added back all the previously cut characters, but they expanded the roster further.

This was also compounded by...

2) Only some characters got story modes

Dynasty Warriors 6 is sort of an awkward middle child of the series.

In the earlier entries, you would have a generic Wei, Wu, or Shu campaign (and others, if you had some add ons, e.g. Lu Bu's campaign). It would start with you picking an officer affiliated with the faction, and it would usually end with your faction rather unhistorically unifying all of China under their banner. Like I said before, the huge playable cast was really only possible because these campaigns were generic, and all they had to do was occasionally insert your chosen officer into the cutscene.

It was also really historically inaccurate, given you could pick a character like Zhou Yu, who died relatively early in the timeline of the Three Kingdoms era, but he would of course be alive for all of it. And of course you would win battles that your chosen faction did not historically win just to get your happy ending (e.g. you would win Chi Bi, even if you were on Wei's side).

Dynasty Warriors 7 and 8 (and possibly 9, but I haven't played enough to say for sure) decided to go for more historical bent*.

In these games each faction has a campagin, but instead of picking a playable officer from the start and carrying them all the way through, the game makes you pick your playable character at the start of each map. You can play as Sun Jian in the first map of Wu's story, for example, but he dies at the end because... that's more or less where he dies in real life. Then the next three maps you might get to play Zhou Yu, then Sun Shangxiang, etc.

Most characters are only playable for a map or two, but they're all spread pretty evenly throughout the story, so you're always mixing up who you play as and each character gets unique moments to shine throughout as they all contribute to the overall story. It also allows characters to die and lose battles when they're supposed to, as the story will just pick up with the next character and the next major battle. Wei never wins Chi Bi in these games, unless there's a secret "hypothetical" route you've unlocked.

Dynasty Warriors 6 is... well, it kind of sort of tries to be both. It still wants those happy endings from the earlier games, but it wants to give more character focus like the later games.

The solution they came up with for 6 was to have individualized campaigns for each character. These are six stages strung together with cutscenes and narration that are all focused primarily on your chosen character.

Now, the problems with this approach.

2a) Only 17 characters got campaigns

Many of them were fan favorites, but yeah. It was Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang [Shu], Cao Cao, Zhang Liao, Xiahou Dun, Dian Wei, Sima Yi [Wei], Sun Jian, Zhou Yu, Lu Xun, Sun Shangxiang, Gan Ning [Wu], Diao Chan, and Lu Bu [Others].

It also excluded many other fan favorites such as Ling Tong, Ma Chao, Cao Pi, Zhen Ji, etc.

Some of the excluded characters did get story modes later, but I'll cover that in a bit.

2b) These campaigns were repetitive as fuck

There are 10 characters who could have been present for Chang Ban. Seven of them have Chang Ban as one of their stages. Which means, in addition to being the absolute worst fucking stage in the entire game no matter which side you play and I still hate it to this day, you have to play it a minimum of seven times if you want to see all of the story content in the game. Don't even ask me how many times Chi Bi appears.

You also have a lot of characters who were present for a lot of the same stuff, which means their story modes are really similar. Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu often come as a triad, and as a result a lot of these three campaigns are similar to each other. Zhang Fei and Liu Bei share four of their six maps, for example.

2c) You had to play them a LOT if you wanted all the content in the game

Only nine of the 17 story modes are actually available at the start of the game, three for each of the main factions. In order to unlock all of the story modes, you have to play the story modes.

In addition, those other characters I mentioned? The ones without story modes? Most of them are also locked behind hitting battle goals in the story mode maps. Which means you will probably have to replay at least some of the maps in order to unlock everyone.

2d) If you're doing a campaign, you HAVE to use the campaign character for all six battles. Playing Lu Xun? You're playing six battles as Lu Xun, so I hope you like how he plays.

Unless you're playing two-player with a friend, that means every non-story mode character is used exclusively for free mode. Meaning you can't play any story content with them. So if your favorite character is Ling Tong? Too bad, if you wanna use him go grind some free mode chapters I guess. Or buy a second controller and stick Dian Wei in the corner while "player 2" does everything.

(Yes I did that. Screw trying to chase down Liu Bei with the slowest damn character in the game)

2e) These campaigns were actually pretty short.

If you know what you're doing, most of them can be completed in less than an hour. Which means you've only got about... 17 hours of story gameplay.

Now that's just the story mode and basic character stuff. Let's get into the gameplay.

3) They dumbed down Warriors gameplay. Somehow.

In every other Warriors game ever, you have the X button, and you have the Y button. You hit the X and the Y button, occasionally mixing them together to make combos, and things die. This is occasionally supplimented with an A button press.

In Dynasty Warriors 6, you still have your X and your Y button, but you also have something called the "Renbu system". The Renbu system is simple: the more hits you chain, the more flashy your X and Y button presses get. There's no combos though. Only Renbu. Which means you mash one button instead of two the whole time.

Which means that a series already pretty much known for being a basic button masher turned into an even basic-er button masher.

Renbu also decreases if you are not hitting things. The game often forces you to run around for long stretches facing no enemies as you go from base to base, which means you basically never had the highest Renbu all the time when doing a map.

You also didn't get nearly the variety of weapons or mounts you got in the previous games. For weapons you basically had "normal", "quick but does less damage", and "slow but does more damage".

3a) Most of those 40 characters are clones. Especially the ones who didn't get campaigns. In addition to this, they removed a lot of iconic weapons.

Sun Shangxiang, since her very first appearance, always used a weapon called the wheels. They were kind of her thing. Dynasty Warriors 6 decided to give her a bow instead, which she now shares with Yue Ying as a weapon. They play exactly the same.

Lemme tell you, people did NOT like that. I can take different weapons, but having so many clones meant there was basically no reason to play some of the characters (e.g. why would I ever play Yue Ying if I like Sun Shangxiang better and they play exactly the same?)

3b) Some of the fun side stuff you could do in previous games, like collecting characters' best weapons or getting the special horses, was completely removed

Less side content, less things to keep you going after you've beaten the paltry number of story modes, which meant people put it down a lot faster.

Now, remember how I mentioned some of these problems got somewhat fixed?

4) Some of these problems were addressed in a re-release of the game. That re-released happened on a completely different console. No, I'm not kidding.

So Dynasty Warriors 6 released on PS3 and Xbox 360. Then, after it came out, they actually re-released it. It had six more story mode campaigns, five new stages, the Renbu decreased faster so you could keep your combos, and some of the movesets were un-cloned in order to make characters more unique.

The problem? This re-release came out on PS2 and PSP. For some reason. Which meant the graphics and performance got a massive downgrade. Remember as well, the PS3 is not backwards compatible with the PS2. So, yeah, if you wanted to play this then I hope you kept your last gen console around instead of selling it to buy the new one or something.

5) Last point: soft reboot also meant some character re-writes.

Some characters really benefited from this. Cao Cao, for example, was frequently depicted rather cartoon villain-y, to sort of contrast Liu Bei's whole pure good man of the people thing, in the previous games. From 6 onward he was given a lot more nuance. Sima Yi also gets to really live his role as the precursor to the next dynasty instead of just being an evil laughing henchman to Cao Cao.

Then you have... the female characters. Sun Shangxiang was one of only two female characters with a playable campaign in the original release. Y'all. They butchered her. Long story short, historically she's one of the women we know the most about. She had an arranged marriage with Liu Bei to solidify an allyship between Wu and Shu, but from what we know it was purely political and she actually went home after a few years because the ally thing was just not doing it. This is more or less reflected in the pre-6 games.

Dynasty Warriors 6 basically turns her into the biggest Liu Bei simp. Like all of her dialogue is about how lovey dovey she is for her wonderful hubby wubby who is just the bestest person in the entire universe (gag). She even goes so far as to betray her family and fight against them in her campaign, something she has never done previously and, as far as we can tell, never did historically. Unfortunately, she never quite recovered. At least not in 7 and 8. Dynasty Warriors kind of always had an issue with making female characters all about their husbands, but 6 marks the point when they started making characters who were not originally all about their husbands all about their husbands too. Considering the cast of these games is like 4:1 male:female already, that blatant dev sexism mega sucks.

5... .5) Ok I lied about the last one being the last point. But this one is entirely up to taste. A lot of people hated the outfit designs for this game.

I think I'm kind of in the minority here because I actually kind of liked them lol. But yeah there were a lot of people who hated the direction they went. The earlier designs were a bit more grounded with a lot of armor and simple colors. DW had bright colors and feathers everywhere. Definitely bold. Still better than DW7, IMO, with their weirdly modern stewardess Qiao sisters and other nonsense.

Anyways now you might be wondering what I actually like about the game, since I said it has a special place in my heart. WELL!

#1) Nostalgia

It was the first Warriors game I really played for myself, sue me. I mean I've always had a lot of nostalgia for the series, since my brother played the heck out of DW3 when I was a kid, but I didn't really play 3 until much later.

2) It can actually be pretty challenging if you don't know what you're doing

DW7 and DW8, while great for what they do, kind of had the issue of being too hand-holdy. Because you need to follow a particular historical-ish sequence of events, the game constantly has to direct you around. You can't just Leeroy Jenkins Cao Cao at Chi Bi, for example, because you gotta change the wind, then set the ships on fire, then wait for Cao Cao to get off the ships so he can start escaping, etc.

DW6 DGAF about that. You wanna play Chi Bi by accidentally botching the fire attack and make your life about six thousand times harder? Have at it. Wanna run down Cao Cao within thirty seconds of the map starting? Have fun.

And then if you do want to hit the extra targets or actually strategize, you can do that! I've played with friends in two player and we would literally sit down before a map and have a little strategy session. It was fun!

The first time I played DW6 I got my ass kicked on the very first stage because I kept failing the mission for various reasons. It's definitely the last of the DW games that isn't super mega hand-holdy.

3) It's got a bangin' soundtrack. Probably my favorite of the games I've played

I mean you get to listen to this masterpiece after every map clear. Stunning.

#Dynasty Warriors 6 #I probably forgot something don't mind me #It's Ling Tong by the way #Ling Tong is my favorite #And also voiced by Jeralt #Listen something about men with ponytails who also have dead dads just gets me

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karis-the-fangirl · 2 years

Text

Worth the Cost - Wheel of Time (book!verse), Lan x Nynaeve fic

Post-series, Lan and Nynaeve are rebuilding Malkier, but Nynaeve continues to be haunted by the pain of Lan's near-death. A little hurt/comfort, with an excessively fluffy epilogue.

Fandom: Wheel of Time (book)

Pairing: Lanaeve

Word count: 1530

Rating: G

CW for mention of childbirth

also posted on AO3

Any worldbuilding or continuity errors are genuine mistakes, so feel free to point them out!

The first time it happened was just after they’d finally moved from their tent into a restored royal suite—still bare of anything but their pallet and pieces of portable campaign furniture, but swept clean of filth, the roof and windows repaired. Not on the first night, when they’d fallen into their bed, triumphant but exhausted; nor the second night, when celebrating their improved privacy ended in a different kind of triumph and an equal measure of exhaustion.

It was the third night when Nynaeve woke screaming, doubled over in pain, her hands clutching over her stomach. Lan was alert at once, hand going first to his sword, then dropping it to grasp his wife’s shoulder as dread squeezed his heart. He searched their bond, to feel her pain, anticipate what she would need—but he found only phantom agony, tightly wound with fear and grief, and rising panic. Understanding dawned as she twisted in his hold, her own cold fingers fluttering across his chest anxiously. He felt the chilly tingle of her power as she delved him for injury, felt her sobbing gasp of relief blow hot against his skin as her searching touch found the place where he had once sheathed Demandred’s sword in his own body. There was not even a scar to mark it—not after Narishma’s skillful healing—and Nynaeve kissed the smooth skin, pressing her face against him. Her tears slid over Lan’s belly as he reached down to cradle her head in his palm.

She had felt it. He had known she would, had asked for her forgiveness in his heart before that last moment—what he’d expected to be the final moment of his life. He had regretted the grief he had always feared for her, but Lan realized that he had not fully understood the physical pain she must have felt. He had been numb to it, wrapped in the ko’di, resolved and stoic to his duty, but he had forgotten that Nynaeve never numbed herself to anything. She felt everything, for good or ill, to a greater depth than anyone else he’d ever known.

Light, what must that blow have felt like to her?

He could feel the echo of it still in their bond, a memory of pain so great it had seemed to be in her own body, cutting her in half. Lan stroked his fingers through her hair, combing it gently back from her wet face.

“My heart,” he whispered, cupping her cheek, his voice thick with regret.

She turned her head to kiss the heel of his hand, then pushed herself upright, sniffing and scrubbing her own hands over her face.

“It was just a dream,” she said, and smiled shakily at him. “Just a dream.”

---------

It came at uneven intervals, the phantom blade cutting through Nynaeve’s sleep. She fought not to scream again, and would shudder awake with her jaw clenched so tightly it ached, a minor pain compared to the agony boring through her middle. And while that sharp, searing pain only lasted a moment, it left her shaken and sick in a way that neither herbs nor Healing could touch—and she couldn’t suppress her need to press her hands to her husband’s body, to be sure that he was whole.

Almost two years had passed, and the queen of Malkier lay curled around her husband, her head resting a few inches above his hip while he stroked her hair. Tears had dried on her cheeks, leaving an itchy residue. Nynaeve was too wrung out to get up and wash her face. Lan would have brought her a cloth, but she preferred him where he was, solid and warm and very alive.

“It should be me,” he said suddenly. He was scowling up at the ceiling. “It was enough that I made you suffer once—it was my choice, and it should be my pain to bear.”

“Your pain is mine,” she reminded him, quoting long ago vows. Lan leaned up on an elbow, hard muscles tensing under her cheek.

“I accepted the need to cause you that pain once, ” he growled. His gentle fingers caressing her arm seemed all the softer for the roughness of his voice. “If I could have foreseen you reliving it again and again, I—”

“You would make the same choice,” she said. He grunted, but Nynaeve’s weary laugh stopped him from denying it. “You made the choice you had to make, my husband, man of legend.” She shifted, moving to tuck her head against his shoulder. “You would make the same choice,” she repeated, “because you are too mutton headed to have found another way.”

He snorted, but after another pause Lan said softly “I did not mean to curse you with this pain, my heart.”

Her sigh fluttered across his chest. She spoke reluctantly, as if the admission were dragged out of her. “I think it’s my fault.”

His hand stilled against her hair for a moment, but he only resumed the light strokes and waited.

“I think I keep repeating it in my dreams because…because I’m still so afraid. When it happened—when I felt it, when I thought I would feel you…” Nynaeve shuddered, pressing closer to him. “I keep trying to figure out how to keep you alive, to use the bond so that you share the slowing, or something , because I imagine living for so long without you, and I—" She broke off, turning to bury her face in his chest even as he rolled onto his side to wrap her up in his arms.

“We always knew…” he began, voice gentle, and his wife did her best to punch him in the ribs.

“You always knew you were going to die alone in the Blight,” she snapped. “One of us has to be invested in keeping your skin whole, and it was never going to be you. I’ll find something, and then it will stop. I know it will.”

The king of Malkier, knowing that it was better to choose his ground in battle, held his tongue.

----------

Lan felt his wife’s pain through the bond, the sharp stab of it cutting through her abdomen. He heard Nynaeve cry out, while he could only stare helplessly at the door that stood between him and his beloved, his fists clenched.

Nynaeve insisted that a birthing room was no place for a man. The other women had agreed, tart sniffs showing what they thought of the very idea, and Lan had not been able to pretend it had ever been a custom of Malkier. The birth was women’s business, and he had promised to stay outside while his queen labored to bring an heir into the world. A child. Their child.

Suddenly lightheaded, he sat down, only to leap to his feet again immediately.

Another wave of pain, and he heard Nynaeve let out a blistering curse. Something smashed against the wall—the water ewer, he thought. And then—

Tears spilled down his own cheeks as he felt Nynaeve’s sobs, and heard the high, lusty wailing of an infant split the air. Only his assurance through the bond that his wife was well—exhausted, but full to overflowing with joy—and that therefore all was well with the child kept Lan observing decorum outside the door, waiting to be invited in to the women’s sanctum.

He felt a brush of loving humor from Nynaeve in response to his impatience, and one of the ladies opened the door. Lan nodded politely, but he could not have put a name to the woman if a knife were held at his throat, because he had eyes only for the disheveled, sweat-soaked, breathtaking loveliness of his wife as she smiled at him, radiant, joyful, and more than a little smug, a bundle of blankets held against her chest.

“Come and see your son,” she said.

As he knelt at her side, brushing reverent fingers over the baby’s damp black hair, Nynaeve leaned into his shoulder, letting the arm he wrapped around her back support her. Light but she was tired! To think she would do this twice more, at least!

When her first pain had come she’d thought it was the old dream again, that her fear of losing her husband had summoned the remembered agony from the hidden corners of her mind. Instead it had been the first in a very long day and night of many pains. But it was worth it, she thought, as little Maric opened eyes that were almost the blue of his father’s.

She would never stop looking for a way to keep her husband alive, to draw his lifespan out to match hers—and surely no man had earned it more—but here was a part of him that would live on, regardless. This was what Lan had bought with his pain, with her pain--the land around them, freed from the Blight, the graceful towers, the clear lakes. This room, comfortable and intimate in the candlelight, and now the child in her arms, red-faced, rooting fitfully at her robe, already making his father laugh softly.

"It was worth it," Nynaeve murmured.

#Lanaeve fic #lanaeve #lanaeve fic rec #wheel of time fanfic #karis wrote a thing

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