#it's a harp she plays the harp

[cashweasel]

It’s 3 am

[bumblingbabooshka]

I think every main Vulcan should have gotten a different instrument that they played and that T'Pol should have gotten a guitar. She should have shredded.

[the-lake-lily-alchemist]

Dany’s vision of Rhaegar in the HotU

So, I want to beat an already dead and over-beaten horse, and talk a bit about Dany’s vision of Rhaegar in the House of the Undying.

Now, I want to preface it by saying that I know this subject has been talked about thousands of times and it’s boring and tiring to talk about the same shit over and over again, but I just saw “Rhaegar is a prophecy-obsessed groomer/rapist” discourse on my twitter feed and thought I’d toss my two cents in.

Firstly, let’s look a bit at this vision as it appears in the books, shall we?

Viserys, was her first thought the next time she paused, but a second glance told her otherwise. The man had her brother’s hair, but he was taller, and his eyes were a dark indigo rather than lilac. “Aegon,” he said to a woman nursing a newborn babe in a great wooden bed. “What better name for a king?”

As we can see here, Dany, on her quest to find her children, stumbles upon this little moment long past. The text tells us that the three people shown here are Rhaegar, his wife Elia, and their son Aegon.

“Will you make a song for him?” the woman asked.

“He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door.

This passage specifically has been interpreted numerous times. The text tells us that Rhaegar thought that his son, Aegon, was The Prince that was Promised. However, Rhaegar looks up when he says the prophecy, and looks directly at Dany, as if talking to her.

This to me reads as not-very-subtly being told the answer to the prophecy. Dany is TPTWP, as the author tells us through vision-Rhaegar. Thus, she is made aware of the prophecy, part of which we can find in the title of the book series.

I’ve seen the theory that Rhaegar seeing Dany was a time-space continuum bubble, of the present looking at the past, or, for Rhaegar, the present glimpsing at the future. How I see it, however, is that when he says those fateful words, and looks up to meet his sister’s eyes, he becomes both the gods’ and the author’s channel to make Dany and the reader aware of the answer to the prophecy. He sceases to be just a vision of the past and becomes the gods’/R’hllor’s voice, informing Dany. He tells her about the PTWP prophecy, because she is TPTWP!

Thus, when he continues with this,

“There must be one more,” he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. “The dragon has three heads.”

we can infer that he’s saying this to Dany, because the gods want her to know this (and the author wants us to know this).

Mind you, these are visions, not just excerpts from the past/present/future. The conversation as it’s shown might not have taken place exactly like this, if it ever did. With how abrupt the cut from Rhaegar saying this to him going and playing the harp, I think he’s never said those words himself. Again, I believe that, in that moment (given that “There must be one more” and “The dragon has three heads” do not tie at all with the PTWP prophecy), it’s the gods using this vision of him to tell Dany (and the reader) an important message.

I shall say it one more time, just to be perfectly clear: IT’S NOT RHAEGAR TALKING ABOUT THE THREE HEADS AND A THIRD CHILD, IT’S THE GODS!

“There must be one more”, because Rhaegar has three children, not just two. Dany is fated to meet Rhaegar’s third child (and very probably fall in love and marry said third child, but that’s another overly-beaten, dead horse), and we as readers have been getting clues about who this child is since book one.

In no passage is it stated or implied that Rhaegar sought to have another child. He doesn’t go on and say, “When the maester has cleared you, we shall try for a third.” or “Because you can’t get pregnant again, I shall look for another woman to bear my third child.” The theory that he wanted another one, presumably a girl, to name her Visenya, is just that, a fan theory.

“The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can flnd them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.” (ASOS, Dany VI)

It’s clear (or it should be) that “the dragon has three heads” it’s specifically for Dany to know that there are two people out there whom she can trust and with whom she shall stand “against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.”

It’s not about Rhaegar thinking that his children are “the three heads of the dragon”. It’s about Dany. You would think it’s obvious given that it’s her chapter, but whatever.

[maeirys]

Commission for a friend!!

[keeps-ache]

every now and then something in my brain turns on and oh hello information i didn't know i had stored! where've you been !

[whiteshipnightjar]

Joanna Newsom in 2023

+ a non visual but descriptive bonus

[under-the-blood-moonlight]

Moonlight Densetsu

[dazzlerazz]

I should play CF again with a fresh clear head just to see if I actually like it without fandom bullshit clouding my mind

[ashypooh-22]

Sonia has literally consumed my being I love her so much

[captainspaulding]

you had to be there i guess

[spacenintendogs]

finally gave my oc a name

[the-raging-tempest]

Sometimes I think about the collection of skills Lariel would have before she runs away and goes out into the world. How surprised she’d be that the things her family insisted were life and death important don’t actually help her. Because she, you know, doesn’t know how to cook, nor clean, she doesn’t know how to do laundry, nor barter. Lariel really thought memorizing poetry, embroidery, formal manners, and ballroom dance were going to be much more useful in her daily life considering how strongly they emphasized them to her.

[whitealbum]

which minor character are you guys playing in the beatles biopics. i would audition for twiggy and instead they’d let me be unnamed apple scruff #4 out of pity

[halfyearsqueen]

her education as a child was ? extensive, to say the least. as the only child of the heir apparent’s heir, at the time of her birth, she was ? 4th in line to the throne. though it was assumed that viserys would sire a male child and would have a son to succeed him. she was taught things like music, social graces - how to walk, how to present herself at court. how to read, how to write . but her greatest education when it came to court was through exposure. it’s ? said that viserys took her everywhere with him and he encouraged her to ‘ watch and listen closely ‘ . and we know that it was because she was so visible around court that she got the name ‘ the realm’s delight ‘ in the first place

[the-casbah-way]

why do old men always assume they know more than me when it comes to niche lore. im fucking autistic you’re nothing. don’t open your fucking mouth around me i know more about antique pocket watches / wwii light bombers / 13th century scottish politics / how to restring a lever harp than you ever will. please stand back unless you wish to embarrass yourself you clown

[casiavium]

Visiting the secret remlits for emotional support before getting the last piece of the triforce and fighting Demise ❤️