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horizon-verizon · 7 days

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I hate how Rhaenyra is being written. In F&B, her place as the protagonist is taken by Daemon thanks to GRRM’s fascination with him.

During the war, Daemon:

Advised the Black Council to send envoys to the Great Houses that hadn’t declared for Aegon, which helped get the Arryns and Starks on their side.

Captured Harrenhal without bloodshed with his dragon, allowing the Riverlanders to majority declare for Rhaenyra.

Led “a strong force” of Riverlanders to capture the last big Green supporting Castle, Stone Hedge.

Hired his mistress to kill one of Aegon’s children, resulting in his mother’s insanity and removing her as a dragonrider/voice of reason/even ability to escape.

Was the principal factor for the fall of King’s Landing for the Blacks. He led the Gold Cloaks decades before which inspired them so much they killed Alicent’s brother and turned the city over to Daemon.

Refused to obey Rhaenyra when she demanded Nettles be killed under guest right, allowing her to escape.

Waited 2 weeks for Aemond to appear at Harrenhal; succeeded in killing him by driving Dark Sister into his blind eye, as well as the biggest dragon Vhagar. His body was never found, so it’s still speculated he lived to be with Nettles.

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra:

Sent Knights Inquisitor to pursue those who let Aegon II escape the capital, and apparently the spikes on the gates started to be filled with more fresh heads each day.

Levied higher taxes on the peasants each day, turning them against her, especially when she planned lavish celebration to mark Joffrey as heir to the Iron Throne.

After the Two Betrayers burned Tumbleton, irrationally decided that the other two loyal dragonseeds were also going to betray her, so sent warrants for both their deaths. She even tortured her former father-in-law Corlys Velaryon because he’d helped Addam escape, making him defect to the Greens. Her warrant for Nettles’ death under guest right (a sacred custom) led both Lord Mooton and her husband chief supporter to turn on her as well.

Overthrown by the smallfolk and forced to fled King’s Landing after the Storming of the Dragonpit to Dragonstone.

Was betrayed at Dragonstone by a senior member of her garrison, her remaining knights killed. Eventually, Aegon fed her to his dragon Sunfyre, who ate her in 6 bites in front of her 10 years old son.

Side by side like this, there’s no comparison. Daemon despite being characterized as impulsive and ruthless, was able to win 3 victories with relatively little bloodshed, and gets a heroic and epic death (and he might still be alive!), killing a legendary dragon and the biggest threat to the Seven Kingdoms, saving the Riverlands from Aemond’s tyranny and ending his reign of terror, but abandoning the Black cause to save an innocent teenage girl. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra orders executions and high taxes and tortures, turns her biggest allies against her, is chased out of the city in 6 months, gets betrayed and eaten by a dragon (she’s definitely dead, since hundreds of people saw it). She doesn’t get a single success of her own (even Aegon managed that in getting Dragonstone to defect), while he gets several despite having someone kill a child. Caraxes is an “old, fast, clever dragon” who helps win Harrenhal without a fight and kill Vhagar, while Syrax is a lazy dragon who mainly exists to get Joffrey killed and then die in the dragonpit (even Sunfyre is better than her, essentially coming to Aegon’s rescue). It’s not necessarily that Rhaenyra’s cause fell apart when Daemon abandoned her (though considering how he’s made so epic it’s a blow), it’s that her irrational, tyrannical actions caused nearly everyone to abandon her. If she hadn’t issued the warrant for Addam and Nettles’ deaths based on nothing but paranoia, then Daemon and Corlys wouldn’t have betrayed her, and considering the Dragonpit would’ve still happened, she’d at least have 3 dragonriders plus the wealth/loyalty of Driftmark on her side. Daemon gets introduced as “made of lightness and darkness in equal parts” meanwhile Rhaenyra is written as one-sidedly incompetent and tyrannical (to the point that even Aegon outshines her sometimes, despite him also being astonishingly incompetent and psychotic). There’s no sense of balance to her, she does basically nothing but the wrong political moves, when she’s supposed to be the protagonist of this story.

[*EDITS* are dated in various posts of post]

"no sense of balance", this is a great criticism of bk!Rhaenyra, or rather the writing for her. finitefall wrote something about Rhaenyra's tyranny HERE, Watsonianly and Doylistically. But my answer will be long and maybe a tedious answer to you so ignore it when it gets dumb, anon. I'm shooting from the dome. There's no analysis happening in this post.

Essentially/To Summarize:

Actually, Aegon was not as strategic as you think. No, he did not plan the Dragonstone fall or deliberate with anyone on how to seize it. that was done for him as much as Daemon taking Harrenhal for Rhaenyra was. And Rhaenyra had a set of circumstances that no other Targ monarch has had to face, not even Jaehaerys.

However!!!! I have out of text v in-text critiques. Basically, as a Doylist argument, yeah I agree. In-text and if we take the story as is? I think it's to pull the these sides into the despair of war and highlight the irresponsibility of it falling here in the first place. Wars must be done for a good reason, not because you killed your sister's son and usurped her for power. Or that you pull your families into a war where they'll die and the realm will be plunged in with you. Yes, HotD had something to the whole "both sides", but not to the extent that they make it: why canon!Rhaenrya wars doesn't matter at all.

And GRRM could have done the above AND emphasize that this never should have happened if not by misogyny without falling back on sexist tropes himself. Which is why this isn't a feminist tale; not because Rhaenyra herself is or should be a feminist (that's impossible) NOR because Fire and Blood was mean to be a "anti-female ruler" sort of thing and this any events where Rhaenrya did ride on Syrax burning people or strategizing and working through her pain was deliberately left out (how can you hide that fact that Rhaenyra would have done the dragon burning at least?! Survivors are also giving testimony! By that argument, we can say it wasn't Baela who burned Aegon, it was some male dragonseed. Nah.)

It's not a feminist tale or even much of a pro woman one because GRRM had so many opportunities to showcase a woman actively participate in a war (in 2 different ways without her being a swordswoman or something like that: flaming bitches OR/AND strategy/tactics/logistics) she was using to reclaim her authority and position and power WHILE showing how Gyldayn's book tries to make her out to be incompetent or evil *[6/1/24]*(and yes real histiographies or versions have both recorded great things women have achieved as they also brought both unsubtle and subtle bad-faith criticisms for those same actions [post from poorshadowspaintedqueens])*[6/1/24], END*…but didn't.

You can still tell the tale of how she became too paranoid and make a point of how the sexist writers saw this as female weakness by forcing them to record major events where she didn't do that but they had to record that anyway because it was so impactful on scale or effect. You can still make us witness her decline at her own hands or have her sons' deaths, one by one, affect her responses to specific events in the war. Make it so that the people around her were being shady and that's what encourages her paranoia to strengthen, that would be better. Make some sort of misunderstanding situation happen with most/if not all her supporters. Make Celtigar or Corlys do some questionable stuff or suspicious stuff (or seem like it, we don't know who's in the shadows trying to divide the blacks after all…) so she reasonably starts to suspect them and lose her trust in them, these men she has to sort of depend on to lead her armies and naval support and direct her funds, and then have some green strike in the moment of unpreparedness. Something!

Instead, canon!Rhaenyra's mental decline is too caricaturistic. *[6/1/24]*There are also some tiny saving graces (listed below, way below).*[6/1/24], END*

I imagine that this is all the motive for why you and some people might prefer show!Rhaenyra and her going to participate directly in the war as we've been clued on. I'll first say that I get why people do for S2 Rhaenyra...not so much S1 her. HERE is why I prefer bkRhaenyra before Rhaenyra-w-a-Sword pooped up AND summarizing, bc the writing for her in the show is still bad and sexist, but worse because it denies the neutral/good parts of bk!Rhaenyra.

Still, Branwynhalfwitch of Twitter explains it better (S2 Rhaenyra, anticipation).

And your ask reminds me of this ASK/POST about the same issues with Rhaenyra's writing. That anon said what you describe:

I don’t get why Martin uses a mother’s grief so often as a convenient plot device to force passivity, silence and absence on his female characters to fit the requirements of the plot, why it’s always the women who break down, rend their garments and retreat from public life, whereas men react to similar tragedies with anger, pursuit of vengeance and singular political focus.

You:

It’s not necessarily that Rhaenyra’s cause fell apart when Daemon abandoned her (though considering how he’s made so epic it’s a blow), it’s that her irrational, tyrannical actions caused nearly everyone to abandon her. If she hadn’t issued the warrant for Addam and Nettles’ deaths based on nothing but paranoia, then Daemon and Corlys wouldn’t have betrayed her, and considering the Dragonpit would’ve still happened, she’d at least have 3 dragonriders plus the wealth/loyalty of Driftmark on her side. Daemon gets introduced as “made of lightness and darkness in equal parts” meanwhile Rhaenyra is written as one-sidedly incompetent and tyrannical (to the point that even Aegon outshines her sometimes, despite him also being astonishingly incompetent and psychotic). There’s no sense of balance to her, she does basically nothing but the wrong political moves, when she’s supposed to be the protagonist of this story. Rhaenyra is written as one-sidedly incompetent and tyrannical (to the point that even Aegon outshines her sometimes, despite him also being astonishingly incompetent and psychotic.

You're right, it's very Daemon-forward. Don't get me wrong, I see his value for Rhaenyra, but if you're going to write about a woman...write about her and don't let her fall completely to the interpretations of the writers against her when everyone else gets more story than her in her own war. IF you're going to make it about her trying to reclaim her birthright, make her decline much more organic, the pressure on her mind must be more gradual and sensical, and not immediately make her fold under pressure or death of sons. Because yes, mothers/women can think through their pain as Daemon did. Like in that other ask I likened your ask to, there are legends of women like that Sforza woman and Olga of Kiev putting their kids in safer but still active positions to participate in war so they them selves can then take over the war proceedings as unofficial head. Rhaenyra is the actual head of her side, with Daemon as her commander on the ground...so let her do something and colloborate! (By legend/history, Olga had her son throw a spear to signal the beginning of a war she wanted to wage, bc only the male monarch could to officially begin a war). Yeah-ish, not every woman, "realistically", can do something like that but this is fiction and again, in the story about a woman trying to take back her power through a war...do not undermine that point of her trying to defend herself by making her not defend herself, only to drive how wrong it was to usurp her through how her kids live with trauma the rest of their lives and "make up" for it by having the Targs descend from her. There's a difference b/t a woman herself gaining wins/trying her best for herself and her propagating "winners" eventually. (Talking about Aegon V and Dany mostly).

It strengthens the impression of high femme-in-presenting people unable to do the "hard"/big man stuff. It solidifies the whole medieval "women can't do war, that's why they aren't leaders" even as you try to say that Rhaenyra's grief this, Rhaenyra's miscarriage that, bc you're clearly creating reasons for why she will sit out when you do have the option of not doing so, as a writer.

It'd have been more meaningful to have Rhaenyra flout that medieval binarism by at least doing logistics or tactical stuff: oh, she may not be a warrior, but she impacts their moves by reviewing the battlefield or thinking up ways to replenish supplies for their armies or ways to infiltrate this castle and that castle, etc.

And have her burn a few soldiers, come in and do a "save the day" in that battle without necessarily having her swing a sword. She already sort of does flout the binary a little by being a dragonriding princess, in the Andal ideology of masc vs femme---like Branwynhalfwitch of Twitter says, lean on that fact that she is a dragonrider!

Why all this hype about her being the youngest rider to have bonded with a dragon if you're not going to allow her to really use said dragon to reestablish her political power?

Out-of-text: Lately I've gotten more frustrated by a lot of this. Yeah...I know I said once or twice that we as the readers, can still draw significance in how Rhaenyra's supposed mediocrity vs Aegon's craziness shows ever more the point of how sexism makes a mid/good woman undeserving in the face of any mid/evil/incompetent man but GRRM not giving Rhaenyra at least one self-generated strategy plan is more than annoying. It helps to make more substantial this "rational man" v "irrational woman" trope we're all done with because it make women way too passive in a story that's supposed to be their own. She is still the protagonist, just a not-well written one.

A better female character GRRM wrote in F&B is either Rhaena (Dreamfyre's rider, daughter of Queen Alyssa Velaryon and Aenys I) and perhaps Queen Alyssa Velaryon. Maybe Alysanne. The best is Rhaena, though. I wrote at least two posts back to back defending her AND made a 3 "volume" maybe 20 video series on TikTok...this girl is my babe.

I resent GRRM for the circle of "reasoning" I'm about to put you through.

Like I mention below abt Aegon at Dragonstone, Aegon "outshines" her in more crazy than genius or rational-ness. He actually never acts rationally. Like at all. So ironically, we got them similar in that aspect. Aegon was also, unlike Daemon, separated his whole life from that. Aegon is not and was never known for being the swordsguy/warrior his brother was. He was mentally and physically unprepared for war.

I believe GRRM's intent was to have Rhaenyra--who actually ruled Dragonstone for years and sat at council with Viserys and his councilmen for years listening and maybe giving suggestions/learning-- still was so separated from the face of violence and death to those closest to her, that she "lost" her will to meet her odds for a time when her Luke died. Why not Visenya? She lost not one but two, ad so she breaks down. But that's so...flaccid(?) to me, too. It's like he's saying that she "lost" herself or some faith there. Paralyzed by the realities of war and choosing to go to war. So both her and Aegon had been living in the lap of aristocratic wealth it seems, but then it also seems like Rhaenrya had a leg up on Aegon by having been an active ruler on Dragonstone....but then he doesn't take advantage of that one element of potential for Rhaenyra, that one advantage...why? Perhaps someone better at this can explain, I'm tearing my hair out!

By contrast, Daemon had experience and lived in with the possibility of his loved ones dying AND went to war in the Stepstones for years.

The arguments for why Rhaenyra's "deserving" to rule being relegated to how incompetently she acts in the war--like I've said in other posts--gets easily confused for she must actively fight in battle to be considered a good leader...which is exactly the sort of medieval thinking that argued femininity is itself an anthesis to war-faring, militancy, and leading; and we modern Americans and other Western nations don't even practice for leaders. Our president doesn't go travel to fight beside the troops, not even in airplanes. Should they start? That's a good question.

Anyway, I get reluctant to question GRRM's thinking here just bc it's so...dumb?

At the same time, I also truly think that Rhaenyra's "arc" and decline into paranoia does have a potentially interesting journey and that it began with her rivalry with Alicent, from the age of at least 12 if not when Aegon is born which when she is 9-10. What effect would Alicent's turning the court against her and trying to mentally tear her down have on a child growing up expected to also have to be queen? How did that look and turn into how she interacted with the men in her life--father, uncle, brothers, husbands....and the women/girls in her retinue, how did she really feel about them and why? We know the women were loyal more or less. How susceptible did her childhood make her to manipulation from men, where/when/with who did she draw lines/why? It's that GRRM also didn't get into how Rhaenyra may have developed an ever-present insecurity alongside and motivating her need to stand up for herself that grew and worsened with the first few disasters of the war...BUT HE FUCKING WASTED IT!!!

Yes, this is a history book with unreliable sources determined to paint female ruler=bad for stability, but they'd be forced or compelled to at least write a few achievements or two. If you're so attached to this concept and refuse to divulge this girls' thoughts through a fucking letter or journal entry or excerpts of such or something of reflection and thoughts of the moment that reveal character like with Daemon and Otto's letters in the Rouge Prince AND one, just ONE tactic she made up on her own during the war...preferably two. I wouldn't remove her grief and the paranoia entirely. (And I'm not necessarily talking altruistic; Rhaenyra is not and never was that. Just bc you maybe a little clever, doesn't mean you're nice or compassionate.)...You may question, why not Rhaena BB then, instead of Rhaenyra? Well, tbh I much prefer if we somehow got this for every single Targ, attached to every history book, alongside how the maesters interpreted those writings so we got meta-on-meta. Its just richer that way, more engaging. And each character would have still given a voice...after all why describe Daemon's actions in such unrealistic detail if you're goin that far? But alas. Maybe it's a bad or even worse idea, but I'm spitballing.

(Ironically, a lot like how HotD does with some of their own changes or tweaks, like Helaena being a dreamer, which makes me want to compare the two)

Levied higher taxes on the peasants each day, turning them against her, especially when she planned lavish celebration to mark Joffrey as heir to the Iron Throne.

Every bullet point aside from the Nettles one are things I don't really begrudge Rhaenyra for, but I do question why GRRM really made her so sheltered(?) isn't the right word but he made her not try. And with each point, why he decided to give her so much at once but not come up with one good plan that soiled anyway? Or is that sexist? Again, she ruled Dragonstone and sat at council for years....where's all that acumen and experience now?

I honestly don't know what I would have done to replenish the treasury after my wicked half brother and his cronies stole it without putting taxes on people if I have been born high classed. I wouldn't execute people at such alarming rates and I think I'd have a smaller investiture ceremony for my "Joffrey". But I don't know what I'd do. Can't go to the Triarchy bec they just killed one of my kids (Jace), wouldn't trust me, and don't really exist as a unified until anymore, less interested in Westerosi affairs after that. The Hightower armies are in the Reach and parts of the riverlands preventing aid from coming in. Cregan Stark is not due until my own death. So I have but my own funds from Dragonstone and my allies' funds. And you can't demand they fork over $ or you risk losing more allies that way.

I suppose that was what GRRM's job was.

Some posts I wrote about this problem, Watsonianly, so don't come for me:

Basically, GRRM also maybe trying to make her one tragic flaw her need to self determing in the face of people acting/telling her she doesn't deserve power bc she is female.

Excerpt:

Doylistically, Rhaenyra's lack of "focus" (not to be that Try Guy) on what would happen after Viserys died can be attributed to GRRM just wanting her to be at a huge disadvantage at the beginning of the war, for that effect of off-kilterness and foreshadowing things never being the same again after 10 years of peace and presumed happiness with Daemon and her kids. However, writing this error -- without providing any sort of other reason other than she made Dragonstone her home -- does still belies her intelligence, or at least sacrifices that for that effect described. Because she had 10 or so years to contemplate the aftermath of her father's death. *EDIT (8/21/23) *And perhaps he did that on purpose to highlight how misogyny doesn't care what kind of person a woman is so much as it tries to reshape her into an evil being needing destroying so she could become the reason why women, in general, shouldn't rule and "disturb" the "natural" order of male rule. *END OF EDIT*

Others:

Some other saving graces:

A) *[6/1/24]*

Rosby and Stokeworth was an issue that I don't think that most women in Rhaenyra's shoes (from this world) could have have avoided without losing important things. It's a thing that reflects what real life Queen regnants also had to sometimes deal with when persuading men who lead their various martial units, provided supplies, aided in coups [Catherine the Great], etc. Against the concerted efforts of several camps (men and the women who lead armies on behalf of close male relatives) to prevent a woman from claiming power in her own right, the same power-claiming woman needs more than herself and a few other relatives to assure she gets the throne/seat/privilege, etc. Corlys is a sign of that very thing--he twice tells Rhaenrya that if she were to go by Daemon's suggestions of giving Ulf & Hugh any dead noble's (rightfully executed or not) past holdings and titles, the other lords wouldn't likely stand for it:

("Rhaenyra Triumphant") -- First Incident (Not Rosby & Stokeworth)

("Rhaenyra Triumphant") -- Second Incident (Rosby & Stokeworth)

Corlys held her naval support. And while yes for the sake pf setting a precedent of girls becoming lady regnants of houses or being considered as possible, more viable heirs, Rhaenyra ALSO has to measure if she can keep those supporting her to destroy the obstacles in her way so she can ascend and set that prime precedent of female rule. She can't do that if she doesn't win.

If she chose to have these girls become the ladies of their houses, it could have alienated some of the lords she needed to stick with her and support her during an ongoing war. With Daeron-the Hightowers and their army doing well against their own soldiers outside of the city. And she denied Ulf and Hugh the Baratheon/Lannister holdings (correctly) in the next black council when they deliberated how to deal with her brothers, Alicent & Helaena, and those who helped the greens usurp her. She measured the high risks and decided it was way too big in lieu of her other circumstances. (We don't get how she herself felt about it, bc no letters, journal entries, self-reminders, no notes...)

The bulk of her argument for being queen was that the past King/monarch chose her, not that her womanness made her a needed ruler. This is our/the reader's argument. What about the person who must do the actual thing of becoming the precedent, though? There are still material steps to be made towards that. While I would love to see a woman choose to take on that risk, I understand it as the risk it is, what world she grew up in, her limitations, etc.

As Rhaena the Black Bride/Dreamfyre's rider could have been much "nicer" to her kids, she wasn't because of extentuating circumstances--where her own family isolated her despite how they essentially made sure she herself couldn't ascend, how she already proved her loyalties, how she was abandoned by her mother, and how she endured Maegor raping her. Rhaena, who also faced patriarchal violence and is blamed for not "rising above it" by fans. Rhaena is better written--her psychological distress much more comes across as organic bc: the distress does that stop her from seeking and achieving revenge against Androw Farman and even Maegor in various ways and levels and it doesn't or stop her from actively trying and sometimes succeeding in making her and her kids' situations better--but this one element of being trapped in the world you are born into with limited options holds true for Rhaenyura. At least with Rosby/Stokeworth and how she intended to deal with her brothers/their supporters.

And the pressure, again, of the stolen treasury, threat of her brothers still out there, two sons dead violently and her unable to bury either of them. Everything of this happening all at once...I maintain that it would have raised more faith if GRRM made her do the Dragonseed bit herself or more events where she took the lead, but that doesn't mean that since she is the final decision maker that we/GRRM should totally erase how this would cause more of a mental toll on her versus Daemon or Corlys. It's just that he refused to write more events showcasing Rhaneyra's getting back into the "game", so to speak. To show any trace of the clued education and resilience SOONER and MORE OFTEN before Jace dies. Those things that he himself clued us in on from the pre-war era, in favor of letting his male characters shine.

Still, Rosby and Stokeworth was an actually difficult conundrum of a rock and a hard place.

*[6/1/24], END*

and he might still be alive!

That's more legend/fandom wishful thinking. He's definitely not alive. But yeah, he's male and an active one in the war so he gets a legend.

Why don't Visenya, Rhaenya and Alysanne all get "legends" of their own? Because Visenya and Rhaena conquered Westeros w/Aegon while acting as pseudo-Queen Regents/Regnants, apssing laws in the realm they constructed. Instead of just being his consorts. As his consort, Jaehaerys I allowed Alysanne to give suggestions and critiques, but she never actually made or passed or enforced laws; while without her many laws wouldn't have been made or they wouldn't have been abolished, she is also still Jaehaerys' consort without any "hard" political power required to directly change structures in Westeros without having to persuade Jaehaerys to do so. It's part of the decline of female non-militant autonomy and direct authority (which came with the Targ assimilation into the comparatively more violent, abusive, and restrictive Andal patriarchy) that was beginning to rise again with Rhaenrya becoming heir and given that male-designated power...until she's usurped.

even Aegon managed that in getting Dragonstone to defect

However, anon, Aegon actually didn't accomplish the Dragonstone thing. There is no indication that he orchestrated or planned in detail how to take Dragonstone. That was Larys and the men who actually took it for Aegon while he sat up in the cliffs of Dragonstone. ("Rhaenyra Overthrown"):

And the only other moment where one could say he displayed some leadership--Rook's Rest--when he decided to fight on dragonback, it was a terrible plan he ended up flamebroiled, which shows how Rhaenyra was better staying out of the battle not already being battle trained herself. Again, we have no indication that Aegon was much of a warrior, like how Viserys was not and Daemon was. Because he rushed too much and wanted to hammer his opponents out of aggreived impatience, partially due to his son getting killed and more so because his ego needed him to show how he can beat the other side and annihilate them. He loses his temper several times at Otto until he dismisses him for Cole's more aggressive approach ("The Red Dragon and the Gold"):

Caraxes is an “old, fast, clever dragon” who helps win Harrenhal without a fight and kill Vhagar, while Syrax is a lazy dragon who mainly exists to get Joffrey killed and then die in the dragonpit (even Sunfyre is better than her, essentially coming to Aegon’s rescue)

Some theorize that Syrax actually shows what happens when you domesticate your dragons or force them into enclosed spaces for long periods of time. But this sentence and other indications that. Plot-wise, it certainly looks like Syrax is completely useless and yet ("The Blacks and the Greens"):

“That makes four dragons of fighting size,” said Rhaenys. Queen Helaena’s twins had their own dragons too, but no more than hatchlings; the usurper’s youngest son, Maelor, was possessed only of an egg. Against that, Prince Daemon had Caraxes and Princess Rhaenyra Syrax, both huge and formidable beasts.

AND

Where's she planned to be a part of at least the KL takeover and ambush if not be the last point of a line of dragons bc the monarch must always be protected...but GRRM makes it so Rhaenyra hangs back for some woman-specific physical reason or other: recovery from miscarriage AND grief or just her anxiety over her sons' deaths.

And Syrax lays many, many eggs that are stored for future Targs--more than other female dragons have been known to. I wouldn't call her completely "useless", it's that she wasn't used for war -- against, that maternal element that feels insufficient for wartime, at least as the only thing she's doing for the blacks.

("A Question of Succession"):

AND

("The Blacks and the Greens")

On the one hand, yay, more dragons and the symbolism of fertility and women being the center of Targaryen magic and prosperity and Rhaenyra is very happy to birth her final two boys and she wanted her Visenya. All definite heirs to the dynasty...

On the other, it seems as if GRRM is also maintaining a binary between female reproductive labor vs masculinized military labor (not just swordwork but tactical, strategy, logistics, etc.). Canon!Rhaenyra is what I've called "high-femme" in presentation and lack of knowledge of how to confront through arms (swords, bow-and-arrow, basically anything physical and war-related). I've also often said that Rhaenyra is not and never will be Daenerys Stormborn, who has many gender subversions without being very "tomboy". Like Arya (no, bk Arya is actually interested in "femme" stuff, it's that she's teased and discouraged bc she doesn't act "ladylike" in the Westerosi paradigm of aristocratic femininity). She doesn't have the same sort of background nor the compassion as either of these two, but does have the backbone to not succumb to other's calls for her to give up something they do not think she deserves due to her gender--in the beginning of her life, events before Lucerys' death, and then when she gets to KL onwards. Daenerys is way more complex and interesting, but if anything this is the only thing I can think of that these two women share and it's very important still. (Even though Dany's not a woman-woman.)

And it presents the question of why GRRM didn't allow Rhaenyra to do both and present more to do with her but make her just fail because of very unlucky shit other than the KL stuff? Like her make her strategic, but luck or the green counteract and got the better of her...because it is a fact that she has to die in some way. Not only that, she has to die/lose partly by her own hand, which she does by not getting a handle on the paranoia that's been accruing since childhood (yes) and relying on her class to carry her in a way where it opposes Dany and Nettles' ingenuity and understanding of dragon bonding. But again, that sort of mania, level of loss of senses, and how its used in the story to disable her from participating in some way in her own cause is...crazy and a cheap and sexist shot to make her fall by her own hand. Making her lose all her sons within a short time is dramatic and expressive of the horror of this particular war...you couldn't do that by giving more to your female protagonist things to do as you kill off her kids?!

I'm actually fine that Rhaenyra doesn't directly participate in war-faring as Visenya or Rhaenys or how Daenerys inevitably will--not every person is a warrior or can be, to enact great positive change. Like Daeron II & Alysanne (Alysanne may or may not be a good example bc she may have been discouraged from using Silverwing for that, but we don't see her confronted with this possibility behind closed doors, so...). Not everyone can/should be a swordsperson, archer, etc. What happens when you were not trained in these things, should you be considered "useless"? Or what if you simply weren't good at it?

But she could OR she could have in strategy or logistics or something. But it's like because she doesn't have those of her body with her anymore, her mind must go as well?

And then there's the definition of a warrior to be discussed: Rhaenys the Conqueror was still war-faring on Meraxes, Meraxes was her war device as much as Vhagar and Balerion were for the sword-wielding other two. It is Andal parameters of "warrior" that has labeled Rhaenys as not one even as she, on a dragon, burnt people at the Field of Fire. Do we not consider Air Force to be "warriors"--well Americans and those in the military have a weird thing about Air Force vs Marines vs yada yada, but again that might (probably) be patriarchy at work. Either way, in this case, yes Rhaenyra could have at least done the Rhaenys thing and stayed on Syrax burning people alive. So I fine with this happening on HotD as well. There's interesting commentary to come from that that GRRM refused to indulge.

Honestly, I don't know. To me it has to do with what the former brideoffires/Twitter's danylanzhou has said about Nettles and Dany, how Rhaenrya did not have what they describe and how GRRM actually went way too hard in the paint for that. but that's as much as I can say.

Do any if these graces make her a more active OR complex/interesting character to read as we are given? Not really. Again, not without PoV chapters or at the very least letter or journals or something(s) she wrote for reflection if she was ever interested in that, IF GRRM just refused to just give her more stuff to do. It's as disappointing as when some Shakespeare fans describe their extreme disappointment with how Merchant of Venice contradicts his other play's wittier and more...compassionate(?) tend to be.

I also still don't like and will never like HotD's Rhaenyra bc they also simply have not developed her with the money they had before the strikes. And now with this DV shit, I definitely will never like the writing for her...because how the fuck is she so determined but performs no domestic power against Daemon after ruling Dragonstone for years?!!! How is this "better" and not more sexist than canon?! [@rhaenin-time's post HERE]

So yeah, in this way, HotD is just following GRRM's lead...while not at the same time.

#asoiaf asks to me #rhaenyra targaryen #Rhaenyra's characterization #fire and blood characters #grrm critical #fire and blood writing #the dance of the dragons #fire and blood comment #fire and blood sources #character comparison #daemon targaryen #daemon's characterization #aegon ii #aegon ii's characterization #asoiaf sexism #fire and blood sexism #the targaryens #asoiaf #fire and blood

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saintmeghanmarkle · 7 days

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Does any sinner know more about Tom Quinn? by u/Nervous-Spinach2046

Does any sinner know more about Tom Quinn? Tom Quinn is the new Scooobie, that much we know. But what makes a 68-year-old published author so desperate for money that he would willingly blow up his reputation and shill for TOW and the ginger whinger? Is he a sugar all along?I’ve never heard of him before. After a bit of googling, and here’s what I’ve found:He’s published six books on the BRF, and one is in the pipeline:Backstairs Billy (2015) – about the Queen Mum’s most trusted pageMrs Keppel (2016) – about King Edward VII’s mistress Alice Keppel, who is also Queen Camilla’s great grandmotherThe Reluctant Billionaire (2018) - about Gerald Grosvenor, Sixth Duke of Westminster (father of the current duke, Hugh)Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle (2020)Scandals of the Royal Palaces: An Intimate Memoir of Royals Behaving Badly (2021)Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family (2023)Upcoming: Yes Ma'am: Upstairs Downstairs in the British Royal Family (August 2024)He is very prolific, and writes a lot about behind-the-scenes of the RF. I must say, if he weren’t such a sugar now, I would very much like to read some of his books, especially 1, 6, 7.From a bio I found on him on publisher Hachette’s website, he has spent 20 years talking to people in domestic service to learn about their lives. He’s also written a few bios of people who worked as servants. This is very interesting to me.Before he started writing about the RF, he’s written about a wide range of topics:fishing, eccentrics, long walks, railways, early aviation and the First World War, as well as the children’s author and illustrator Denys Watkins-Pitchford (better known as BB).(Source) He was the author of the “Strangest” series of books, and the editor of two magazines: The Countryman and Country Landowner’s Magazine. He also regularly appeared on British TV to talk about eccentrics, London history, and the RF.He had a blog, which only has three entries, all from 2021. From one of the entries we can see he has at least one son, who was studying to become a lawyer.What gives an inkling of his Markle sympathies is the cover of the Kensington Palace book: the most famous inhabitant of KP in the 20th century was undoubtedly Diana, Princess of Wales; the most famous in the century before that, was Queen Victoria before she came to the throne. Her mother has even named the set of rules governing Victoria’s upbringing The Kensington System. For the 21st century, I would say it would be William and Catherine, the current PPOW. But Quinn had this on the cover of his KP book:https://ift.tt/Slhq8y1 lived in Nott Cott in the KP grounds for, what, 5 minutes? Complaining the whole time, about the size, low ceiling, the name etc, of a piece of prime real estate in Central London? For free? (I assume H’s rent was paid by Charles). Not at all representative of such an illustrious palace.And then his last book, Gilded Youth, has this cover:https://ift.tt/VBAfq7J? Why not use either of these?Getty ImagesGetty ImagesI think it must be his solid background that made him a prime choice for the new UK PR “guru” to hire as the new Scooobie. Seemed less biased. But the shilling is so transparent. It’s rather sad to see him become a mouthpiece for the Harkles, although the bias was already there.Does anyone know more about him? post link: https://ift.tt/ZEbRmid author: Nervous-Spinach2046 submitted: May 30, 2024 at 12:38PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

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allyriadayne · 4 months

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I know this is one of those scenarios that fundamentally changes the story but I'm still curious, what do you think happens if Rhaenyra is Viserys's only legitimite child however she has a bastard brother who is recognized by Viserys but not legitimized, how do things play out in terms of succession? I was gonna say let's have Alicent's be the mother but I don't see that ever happening so pick a house of your choosing for this, what house the mother comes from is definitely factor for how this plays out imo.

it's more or less just like the blackfyre rebellion. in both situations there's a bastard who seems to be better suited to the throne rather than the heir. while daemon blackfyre was pretty popular because daeron was too bookish and nobody liked the dornish, i think rhaenyra's bastard brother would be even more popular considering nobody would like a queen on the throne.

you are right when you say the family of the mother matters. are we assuming aemma is alive but unable to bear more children? then it might as well be alicent lol depending how much otto would bear to have his daughter called a whore harlot etc OR he would try to make viserys name her royal mistress or something in hopes he divorces aemma in favor of a woman who already gave him a boy (i can so see viserys being incredible embarrassed by this and acceding out of pressure). though... let's say it's a woman as powerful as a hightower, a velaryon, a lannister, etc and the boy is raised with all honors because he's the king's firstborn son and many lords prefer him rather than rhaenyra.

it's a very henry fitzroy situation, he's probably given titles and offices to calm the waters between the targs and the mother's house which in turn give the lords another foothold to campaign for his legitimization if viserys is not able to set aemma aside. If the child grows up healthy and is told /he/ should be the one inheriting the throne then it's over. rhaenyra's claim is never safe if there is a younger brother the lords can support, it doesn't matter he is a bastard because he is still the king's blood.

if he is from a minor house (rosby, piper mallister etc) maybe he gets raised in their lands like aegor rivers was until he is sent to squire for the king himself or one of the KG. i don't think a minor house would lose the chance to gain money or lands when they have a targ bastard in their midst. he would 100% be used to further his mother's house's cause. in this case maybe the support for him would be slow to rouse as the court doesn't know him yet but i don't have any doubt people will latch onto him to oust rhaenyra. better an unknown man of dubious birth rather than a /girl/. the only way i don't see the lords supporting rhaenyra's bastard brother is if he has the personality of walder frey or something like that lmao

#ask #anonymous #aegon ii actually plays very well into the younger bastard brother type. alicent is the other woman and her children are second to the #legitimate child from the official marriage #he doesn't expect to inherit but is thrust into it by his mother's family

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gojuo · 2 years

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ALSO (still me from the alicent anon lmao) people really aren’t able to consider the ever-so-famous historical context. they use it as an excuse all the time to ignore Daemon or whoever being total monsters but god forbid they actually remember that alicent wanting her own blood on the throne is actually a pretty good motive for a medieval queen. she really didn’t need much else as an excuse lol, why would she accept Viserys ignoring hundreds of years of tradition in the name of a “queens fix each other’s crowns🥰” mindset, like PLEASE. add to this the fact that her sons would legitimately be a threat to rhaenyra’s rule and therefore in danger, and that the only consolation queens got after living shit lives in service of men who used them as incubators was seeing their kids rule and she wouldn’t even get that. i would turn evil too after what she’s been through like, she literally was supposed to never win ever😭. the original motive for the dance to happen does make her a power-hungry character but the entire fucking point of the targ dynasty is that they’re power-hungry and ambitious and entitled so how would she be worse than everybody else? the prophecy excuse makes no sense, especially after that whole debacle of her disowning aegon because he’s a monster. and now she’s going to put him on the throne over her own morals?? obedience to her husband despite everything?? THAT’s her reason? THAT’s her redemption? i’ll continue rooting for her but what the hellllll. sorry for the rant <3

No but that's literally part of the job description ?? Being queen means being the mother of the next king??? That's literally a part of the job???? Or else you'd just be a concubine or a mistress not the legal wife of the king?????? Like having the queen's son be the next king is lit e rally what it says on the job application I dunno what to tell the Blackcels AND THE WRITERS because having Alicent misinterpret Viserys is just such a cuck reason to have her act, I agree with you. I mourn the cunning politician she was in F&B and who we didn't get in HOTD really... Her and Rhaenyra's friendship/"love"/whatever the fuck it was they had is just way too shallow or came across as way too immature for me to believe Alicent would just let Rhaenyra ascend after Viserys with Daemon at her side (the very reason why the Lords agreed to make Rhaenyra heir instead of Daemon!!!! Cuz no one wanted him on the throne!!!!!!)

You can rant to me all you like really, don't apologize. Would you mind if I rant also? This whole "women suffering from patriarchy" schtick Condal & Sapochnik have chosen to go for in HOTD instead of having women be the active players in the game is so .... patronizing to me. Like, we live in 2022 not 1822. Is there any Western woman suffering because of the patriarchy anymore? How the fuck is seeing women who are supposed to be queens act like headless chicks because evil men (who are in all technicality beneath them socially/politically/culturally, etc.) apparently oppress them and they are poor women who are stuck in this system while they are actually 2 women at the top of the food chain ... empowering? Alicent and Rhaenyra were active characters who went out and got what they wanted for themselves in F&B but in HOTD they get pushed around by other people while they 👁👄👁 all day. But yayyy! Having these two women who are at the top of the top of the social class be oppressed by "patriarchy" and "fighting against patriarchy" is soooooooo empowering, right? Instead of them being two cunning women moving the entirety of the Six Kingdoms whichever way they want because they want more power for themselves. THAT is empowerment to me. Women being allowed to just be characters that do both the best and the worst all in order for to achieve their own goals. Women taking active part in their own lives and their own fates instead of crying every single day about motherfucking "patriarchy" this and "patriarchy" that. Like .... come on ..... what kind of woman in the West actually buys into this lame "patriarchy" excuse in modern entertainment anymore?

#sorry for ranting back ♥️#i loved your ask dw ♥️#anti hotd #alicent #anonymous #answered

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chryzuree · 1 year

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🥀📸🎵🧾🌠♨️🍦 (I'll say the ship-specific ones are for ChrysiJacks :])

🥀 Talk about some of your fictional crushes and why they aren’t your F/O!

hmm, well, there’s mistress luck. who i love. deeply. but the main reason i don’t ship an oc w her is that chrysi’s w jacks (mistress luck is his best friend..) and that i don’t want to make a new oc. it’s so hard :// in addition to that, she’s in the one scene. heart is in shreds as we speak. at this point, she’s more my oc than anything.

grimalkin is sooo pretty&cool and she’s rlly good with battle using scissors and she’s a witch and she’s got a strict moral code, despite not being quote-unquote good, but she remains a crush purely bc, like. i’m way more focused on the soulmatism of tom&alice in the series.

also a huge point is that i haven’t rlly found any media (songs, books, etc.) for me to explore an aspect of their characters in (they’re supporting characters in their novels, at best), so it’s more like. ouhgghgh pretty… i love you… <33 (oswald exempt, he’s got gen now.)

📸 Make a moodboard for you and your F/O!

🎵 List three songs that remind you of your selfship.

fan behavior // isaac dunbar

gladiator // jann

heads will roll // yeah yeah yeahs

🧾 What’s your favorite headcanon someone else has made about your F/O?

chryzurejacks was my friend’s idea. she said that jacks seemed too close to chrysi to not also be close to azure, so she decided on them being secondary soulmates & now here we are

🌠 What’s a crack selfship that you’ve thought of?

mmmm. ??? i don’t rlly think i have one. i don’t tend to think of that. once i thought abt elias bloom saving chrysi frm castor, but that was less ship and more elias blood getting over chrysi and deciding to help her out of the goodness of his heart. elias bloom new best friend / villain-erosion… same friend as the chryzurejacks soulmatism hc is laughing and pointing at me (this happens every time i have a lame villain)

♨️Did your platonic F/Os tease you about your feelings for your romantic F/O?

for jacks, less of making fun / teasing and more of concern. all of them see that chrysi’s developing feelings for jacks and theyre like hmm.. not sure abt that one, actually.

mistress luck, in particular, is concerned for both of them since she knows that they’re linked through chrysi accidentally turning jacks into a fate, so.. she’s not certain their feelings are real + she’s worried they’ll destroy each other.

🍦 What do any familiar F/Os think about your romantic F/O?

george doesn’t like him, but he knows chrysi can hold her own. he’ll be passive aggressive, but besides that, ehh. okay.

alice and oz are actively mounting an attack against jacks at all times. alice bites him a lot. oz keeps trying to accidentally kill him. to say they don’t like him is a bit of an understatement

#.asks #m.filly✨#s.chrysijacks #yeah no i keep chrysi to her little pool of bfs ;;

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fromtheboundlesssea · 1 year

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NGNM: reincarnation|westeros modern au, but only Rhaenor has the memory from their past lives. Alicent, although doesnt remember, still sense something that tell her she should stay away from this man (Rhaenor), and she completely follows her sixth sense. She rejects, dismiss him in anyway she can. Rhaenor has to suffer in silent, watch from far how Alicent lives her best life, happily dating with all good men, and completely doesnt want to have anything with him. Maybe in they share some classes at highschool, history for ex, where Alicent has a long a essay and present it infront of their class

Forget to add this part for the reincarnation au: Rhaenor and Alicent share a history class at highschool. One of their homework is writing about the Dance of dragons, and Alicent wrote a looong essay about Rhaenor and present it infront of the class. She criticize/roast him about his weakness/incompetence as a king/husband/father, and how he is the main reason for this civil war. I imagine she would say some bonus thing like “Queen Alicent was too soft. If i was her, the moment Aemond was born, i would kill him immidiately” “i hope she found love/comfort in other man, may a kingsguard or swornshield, while her husband busy with his mistresses and bastards. He didnt keep their own marriage so i wont judge her if she did that. Even better if she passed her own bastard as his trueborn”…etc… meanwhile Rhaenor can only sit and listen all of that in silent. Lmao….

Lol

#keep the asks coming

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dreamingoftinystars · 3 years

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tag nine people to learn about their interests

thank you for the tag @sinterblackwell <3

MUSIC

1. Favorite genre? Indie pop/folk and musicals

2. Favorite artist? dodie

3. Favorite song? that’s too difficult a question sorry lmao

4. Most listened to song lately? Before the Line by dodie

5. Song currently stuck in your head? Cleopatra by the Lumineers

6. 5 Favorite lyrics?

And I don't deserve you // You deserve the world // Though it feels like we were built // From the same dirt - Your Sister Was Right by Wilbur Soot

But I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant // Damn your wife, I'd be your mistress just to have you around - Cleopatra by the Lumineers

I know I loved the world, but now it's flat to me // Oh, tell me, did someone snatch the light? // Why doesn't it look right? - Before the Line by dodie

My life has lost all porpoise // I lost my hare // I lost my hair // I lost my tortoise - Your Shell of Grief from Alice By Heart (mock turtles my beloved)

City life, apple pie baked just right // Home is wherever you are tonight - Apple Pie by Lizzy McAlpine

BOOKS

1. Favorite book genre? Classics or Contemporary

2. Favorite Writer? Virginia Woolf, Casey McQuiston, Gabriel García Márquez, Kurt Vonnegut

3. Favorite Book? There are many but Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

4. Favorite Book Series? I don’t really read that many series but I just finished PJO and liked it

5. Comfort Book? Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston and We Are Okay by Nina LaCour and Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

6. Perfect Book to Read on a Rainy Day? We Are Okay by Nina LaCour kind of fits the mood of a rainy day and also like is fairly easy to read structure wise. I also think rainy days are a good time for a good classic piece of literature (like Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, etc) especially if you have a fire going during that time. A fairly easy classic book in my opinion is The Great Gatsby. If you want to be emotionally wrecked on a rainy day so that your face can match the outdoors, read They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera.

7. Favorite Characters? Everyone from Heartstopper, Nora from Red, White, and Royal Blue, (I don’t really focus on characters while reading lmao)

8. 5 Quotes from Your Favorite Book (these will all be from Red, White and Royal Blue)- also there are all from memory so they might be slightly incorrect:

But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable

On purpose. I love him on purpose.

Exploring your sexuality: Healthy, but does it have to be with the Prince of England?

I loved you. And then, inexplicably, you had the absolute audacity to love me back

Two homes side by side

(the entirety of the turkey scene)

TV AND MOVIES

1. Favorite tv/movie genre? Cartoons, Contemporary, RomComs, or Documentaries

2. Favorite Movie? Rocky Horror Picture Show, Nightmare Before Christmas, Dirty Dancing, The Princess Bride, Frozen, Beetlejuice (there are more but those are off of the top of my head)

3. Comfort Movie? Starstruck (and any of the ones above) and almost any animated Disney/Pixar movie

4. Movie You Watch Every Year? RHPS, Nightmare Before Christmas, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas

5. Favorite TV Show? I don’t really have favorite TV shows, I more so have tv shows that I obsessively rewatch which are: One Day at at Time, The Owl House, She-Ra and The Princesses of Power, Julie and The Phantoms, Young Royals, New Girl, Criminal Minds, Legends of Tomorrow, *insert more shows here*

6. Comfort TV Show? One Day at A Time (and any of the others above)

7. Most Rewatched TV Show? Probably JATP, Young Royals, or TOH also ODAAT

8. 5 Favorite Characters? I genuinely don’t really have any off of the top of my head but like Elena from ODAAT is one, Stargirl is one, Entrapta and Perfuma

No Pressure Tagging: @c-nan @spookiest-sapphic @midnight-stereo @fanofthepod @book-and-music-lover @sunsetmolinas and anyone else who would like to

#I genuinely enjoyed this!!! so thanks for tagging me :)#this one is especially no pressure because it’s a long boy

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mihrsuri · 3 years

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I needed to redo this because some things have changed but here is the semi definitive version of the Boleyn-Tudor-Cromwell Kids Kids (& Spouses) and also Mary Tudor. There are dates and names that need filling in though

Princess Mary (the first Princess Royal): Inherited her mothers title as Duchess of Derby. Married to Phillip of Bavaria with whom she has three children.

Katherine (Cat) b.1541

Phillip (Felipe) b.1542

Anne (Ana) b. 1543

Princess Elizabeth: Inherits her mothers title of Duchess of Pembroke in her own right and also becomes Duchess of Northumberland upon her marriage to Robert Dudley. Mother of five children.

Anne (Nan) b. 1552 (inherits the title of Duchess of Pembroke which continues down the female line/oldest daughter inherits to this day)

Henry (Hal) b. 1557 Duke of Northumberland

Thomas (Thom) b. 1557 (Hal’s Twin)

Robert (Robin) b. 1559

Mary (Marie) b. 1580

Prince Thomas: Prince of Wales, later King Thomas I. Marries Mihrimah Sultan (Later Queen Mihrimah I). Father of six children.

Thomas (Turhan) b. 1556 later King Thomas II of England and Prince Consort of Scotland (marries Joan I, daughter of Mary I of Scotland)

Maryam b. 1559 later Empress of Persia and wife of Emperor Abbas I and mother to nine children. Greatly loved by her subjects she was known for her intelligence, kindness and wisdom. Named for her mother, grandmother and aunt.

Suleiman b. 1562

Henry (Harry) b. 1565 (Named for his grandfather and indirectly his maternal grandmother)

Ayse (Alice) b. 1570

Esther (Emma) b. 1570

Prince George: Duke of York. Marries Madeleine, youngest daughter of Marguerite of Navarre with whom he has five children.

Nanette

Marguerite

Thomas (Tomas)

Frances

Alienor

Prince William: Duke of Clarence. Father to a lot of illegitimate children. Like Charles II levels of illegitimate children. He absolutely provides for them all and their mothers knew it wasn’t going to be a long term relationship and he provides for them etc. Information on the mothers of his children is detailed here

By Catherine Rushford (who also had two daughters Phillipa and Miriam by her husband)

Henry

Charles (after his godfather, the son of Charles Brandon)

By Mistress Sybil Walker (the daughter of some very minor gentry who wants to have children with her girlfriend (an Italian Actress) and thinks ‘hey I’m fond of William, I would like to bone him and I know he won’t get all fucking weird about things’ and so they bone.

Maddelena

Clarice

Piero

Elena

By Rosamund Hafford whom he eventually married he had nine children - all of whom were eventually legitimised.

James

Margaret

Alice & Andrew (twins)

Robert

Samuel

Liam

Amelia

Ruth

Princess Margaret: later Queen Marguerite of Denmark. Married to Frederick of Denmark

Christian

Elisabeth Marie

William

Henrik

Thomas

Anne Sophia

Prince Owen: later Duke of Kent who marries Sofia, Infanta of Spain and daughter of Queen Juana I (she got to rule in her own right she was great the end) with whom he has three daughters.

Maria

Juana

Ana

Prince Edmund: later Duke of Somerset. He marries Soraya Khan Kalantar a Persian Jewish woman and the daughter of the Persian Ambassador to England with whom he has four children.

Philippa (Lilibet)

Soraya (Sophie)

Eliana (Ella)

Aharon (Arthur)

Princess Philippa: later Duchess of Lancaster marries Bahram Khanom (the child of Prince of Persia and a Persian Jewish Noblewoman) as well as Nazanin Shoshani (her lady in waiting and of a prominent Persian Jewish family). Together they have *counts* six children.

Hadi

Niloufar

Taoma

Maryam

Nima

Anoushka

#the boleyn-tudor-cromwell children #ot3: political power trio #lil and her ridiculous aus #tudors ot3 verse reference #children of the trio

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jawadkhanyusufzai · 3 years

Text

English Literature

1. Father of English Novel ---

→ Henry Fielding

2. Father of English Poem--

→ Geoffrey Chaucer

3. Poet of poets ---

→ Edmund Spenser

4. English Epic poet ---

→ John Milton

5. Both a poet and painter ---

→ Blake

6. Famous mock heroic poet in English Literature

---

→ Alexander Pope

7. The poet of nature in English Literature

---

→ William Wordsworth

8. Poet of beauty in English Literature ---

→ John Keats

9. Rebel poet in English Literature ---

→ Lord Byron

10. Poet of Skylark and Winds---

→ P.B. Shelley

11. Father of Modern English Literature ---

→ G.B. Shaw

12. Most translated author of the world ---

→ V. I. Lenin

13. Bard of Avon ----

→ William Shakespeare

14. Poet of Love/ Metaphysical Poet---

→ John Donne

15. Father of English Criticism ---

→ John Dryden

16. Father of Romanticism ---

→ Coleridge & Wordsworth

17. The Founder of English Prose---

→ Alfred the Great

18. First Sonneteer in English Literature ---

→ Sir Thomas Wyatt

19. Poet of Supernaturalism / Opium Eater

---

→ S.T. Coleridge

20. Father of English Tragedy ---

→ Christopher Marlowe

21. Father of English Eassay ---

→ Francis Bacon

22. The Greatest Modern Dramatist ---

→ George Bernard Shaw...

*#LITERARY_FORMS*

#AND

*#MOVEMENTS*

◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼

🍁 *What is a round character?*

A round character is a complex and dynamic. In this character improvement and change occurs during the course of work .

🍁 *What is a soliloquy?*

Soliloquy is a device use in drama in which a character speaks to himself or herself (thinking loud) by showing his feelings or thoughts to audience.

🍁 *What is Neo-classicism?*

Neo-classicism is a eighteenth century western movement of art, literature and architecture. They got inspiration from ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

🍁 *What is a mock-epic?*

Mock-epic is a poem in which satire, exaggeration, irony and sarcasm is used to mock the subject or used the epic style for the trivial subject etc.

🍁 *What is a complex plot?*

A complex plot according to Aristotle is that have ‘peripeteia’ (reversal) and ‘anagnorisis’ (denouement) without these is a simple plot.

🍁 *What is interior monologue?*

Interior monologue is the expression of internal thought, feelings and emotions of a character in dramatic or narrative form.

🍁 *What is blank verse?*

Blank verse is a form of poetry that written in iambic pentameter but un-rhymed.

🍁 *What is Art for Arts’ sake?*

“Art for Arts’ sake” is nineteenth century literary movement which gives importance to aesthetic pleasure instead of moral, didactic or utilitarian function of literature.

🍁 *What is Epistolary novel?*

Epistolary novel is a narrated work. In this type of novel the story is narrated through letters sent by the observer or by those who participating in the events. Example: 18th century’s novel ‘Richardson’s Pamela and Clarissa etc.

🍁 *Differentiate between novel and novella.*

Difference between novel and novella is length of the narrative work. Novella is shorter than novel and longer than short story but novel is long narrated work.

🍁 *What is the difference between “Open form poetry” and “Closed form poetry”?*

Close form poetry used the fix pattern of stanza, rhyme and meter etc. For example: sonnet, limerick, haiku and sestina etc. Open form poetry does not use these fix patterns.

🍁 *What is the structure of Spenserian stanza?*

Spenserian stanza consist of nine lines, eight lines are in iambic pentameter and followed by single line in iambic hexameter. The last line is called Alexandrine.

🍁 *Differentiate between ‘Blank verse’ and ‘Free verse’.*

‘Blank verse’ follows the fix meter like iambic pentameter and un-rhymed but ‘Free verse’ is also un-rhymed and does not follow the fix meter.

🍁 *How can you define “Pastoral elegy”?*

Pastoral elegy is a poem about death. In this poem poet expresses his grief for the dead in rural setting or about the shepherds.

🍁 *What is ‘Point of View’?*

‘Point of view’ is an opinion, judgment or attitude on a matter. It may be against are in favor.

🍁 *Define plot.* What are its various elements?

Plot is a logical arrangement of events in a story or play. The exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution are the elements of plot.

🍁 *What is conflict?*

Conflict is a problem or struggle in a story or play. It occurs in rising action, climax and falling action. It creates suspense and excitement in the story or play.

Define black comedy.

Black comedy is a humorous work in which human suffering regards as absurd and funny..

🍁 *What do you mean by Theater of the absurd?*

Theater of the absurd is one kind of drama in which absurdity emphasized and lack realistic and logical structure. For example: “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett.

🍁*How can you differentiate between flat and round characters?*

A round character is a complex and dynamic. In this character improvement and change occurs during the course of work but flat character are uncomplicated and remains unchanged through the course of work.

🍁 *What was the Oxford movement?*

Oxford movement starts in 1833 and for the revival of Catholic doctrine in Anglican Church. It is against the conventional understanding of the religion.

🍁 *Define Puritanism?*

Puritanism is the religious movement starts in sixteen century and the goal of the movement is to purify the church of England from its Catholic practices.

🍁 *What is Imagism?*

Imagism is a movement of Anglo-American poets started in early nineteenth century in which they emphasize the use of clear images and simple and sharp language.

🍁 *What is meant by Stream of Consciousness?*

Stream of Consciousness is a technique of narration in which the series of thoughts in the mind of the character are presented. “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf is one example.

🍁*What is meant by Gothic Novel?*

Gothic Novel is one type of novel. In this type the cruel passions and supernatural terror is presented. Example: Monastery or Haunted Castle etc.

🍁*What is Metaphysical Poetry?*

Metaphysical poetry is a highly intellectualized poetry with the use of wit, imagery, conceits and paradox etc. It is obscure and rigid. For example: “John Donne’s poetry.

[5/27, 3:58 PM] ‪+92 300 2730009‬: (Solved)M.cqs. ENGLISH LITERATURE ☘🌸🌸👇🙋‍♂🍁🍁🍁🍁

1. Who, among the following poets, was a precursor to Romantic Poetry?

Answer: Robert Burns

2. Which novelists is widely known for his use of the stream-of –consciousness

technique?

Answer: James Joyce

3. Which year in the social history of England is associated with the Restoration?

Answer: 1660.

4. Which British dramatist attempted to reform English spelling?

Answer: G.B.Shaw

5. For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love

Which poem of Donne begins with these words

Answer: Cannonisation

6. How many pilgrims figure in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales?

Answer: 29

7. In which year was Henry VIII acknowledged the Supreme Head on the Earth of the

English church?

Answer: 1534

8. Identify the tragedy written by Ben Jonson

Answer: Sejanus

9. “…though we cannot make our sun / stand still, yet we will make him run”. Identify

the source of these lines from Marvell.

Answer: To His Coy Mistress

10. Which book of Paradise Lost opens with these lines:

‘Of Man’s first disobedience , and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world?

Answer: Book I

11. Who said of Chaucer’s characters: ‘it is sufficient to say, according to the proverb,

that here is God’s plenty?

Answer: Dryden

12. Which poem begins with these lines :

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day

The lowing herd win slowly o’er the lea

The plowman homeward plots his weary way”?

Answer: Elegy written in a Country Churchyard

13. “ To me the meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears”

In which poem of Wordsworth would you come across these lines?

Answer: Ode: Intimations of Immortality

14. Which novel of Joyce begins with these words: “once upon a time and very good time

it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was

coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo….?

Answer: A Portrait of an artist as a Young Man.

15. In which novel would you come across this line: “Ralph wept for the end of

innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise

friend called Piggy’?

Answer: Lord of the Flies

16. Name the first novel of Dorris Lessing.

Answer: The Grass is Singing (1950)

17. Which novel of D.H.Lawrence ends with these words: “But no, he would not give in.

Turning sharply, he walked towards the city’s gold phosphorescence. His fists were

shut, his mouth set fast. He would not take that direction, to the darkness, to follow

her. He walked towards the family humming, glowing town, quickly.”

Answer: Sons and Lovers.

18. “They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once

more!”

Who makes this observation in Waiting for Godot?

Answer: Pozzo

19. What is the title of the second section of The Waste Land?

Answer: A Game of Chess

20. In which poem of Owen would you come across the following lines?

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

- only the monstrous anger of eth guns.

Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons?

Answer: Anthem for the Doomed Youth

21. Which African American spoke about ‘Double-Consciousness’?

Answer: W.E.B.Du Bois

22. I too, sing America

I am the darker brother

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes”

Whose words are these?

Answer: Langston Hughes

23. Who is the author of Invisible Man?

Answer: Ellison

24. Who wrote In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens?

Answer: Alice Walker

25. Who is the first African American to be named poet laureate of USA?

Answer: Rita Dove

26. You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise

Whose words are these?

Answer: Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise.

27. Who is the young man in Hawthorne’s “My Kinsman, Major Molineux”?

Answer: Robin

28. “In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to

us with a certain alienated majesty.”

Answer: Emerson from Self –Reliance

29. What, according to Poe in ‘The Philosophy of Composition’, is the ‘proper length’ of a

poem?

Answer: About one Hundred Lines

30. When was Uncle Tom’s Cabin published as a book

Answer: 1852

31. “I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

For what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

Answer: Whitman form Song of Myself

32. In which novel do you come across Starbug and Queequeq?

Answer: Moby Dick

33. In which play of Arthur Miller do you come across the line

“A man is not an orange. You can’t eat the fruit and throw the peel away”?

Answer: Death of Salesman (Willy to Howard)

34. Which poem of Elizabeth Bishop begins with these lines:

“The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

So many things seem filled with the intent

So be lost that their loss is no disaster”?

Answer: One Art (first three lines)

35. In which novel would you come across the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords?

Answer: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

36. Who wrote the essay “The Art of Fiction”?

Answer: James

37. Who wrote ‘The Awakening’?

Answer: Kate Chopin

7 notes · View notes

horizon-verizon · 1 year

Note

Alicent provided House Targaryen with four healthy dragonriding Targaryens when the Targaryen bloodline was most vulnerable. In return, the least the Targaryens could do is allow her son to ascend the throne to allow House Hightower to have more power in exchange for them helping to create four healthy Targaryens. It’s really weird how Viserys referred to Aegon as Otto’s blood and Rhaenyra as his own blood when Aegon is also his child and therefore his blood.

The Hightowers behaved like any other family married into the royal family would, so I don’t get why they’re so hated. If Viserys didn’t want the Hightowers gaining more influence then he shouldn’t have married Alicent in the first place. It was stupid of him to expect one of the most powerful noble houses in Westeros to accept Targaryens of their blood just being spares instead of kings.

Disclaimer:

The parts about explaining feudalism is supposed to recontextualize how the hierarchy is not itself based on a good ethics system or fair/good morals, not to justify said hierarchy.

The system (unjustly) does not enforces nor expects the King to be equally sociopolitically or emotionally accountable to his Queen Consort.

................................................

You make the mistake of thinking that in a feudal society/Westerosi/Andal culture, the King and his house are obligated to do anything for the Queen Consort except to:

not publicly humiliate her (and "humiliate" can look different according to the thing done) -- with Aegon IV, it was an exceptional situation since he targeted Naerys and Aemon simultaneously out of jealousy. As long as the King doesn't disinherit her children (if they are OLDER than his mistress' kids AND those mistress' kids ARE NOT legitimized) he is, by custom, not seen to be doing anything wrong

not deny her access to the appropriate clothing, shelter befitting her station, and food

take care of any child she brings forth

In feudal societies, the Queen Consort’s “job” is to provide heirs and like everyone else in the kingdom, she has to obey her husband’s orders. She is subject to him, she has no privileges or rights over him.

The King/Monarch is always the legal/official/customary authority over literally everyone else. This is not a democracy nor an oligarchy.

Therefore, it is actually Alicent who customarily should obey Viserys’ commands and declarations. That is her place in this hierarchy.

You may think this is unfair, but:

Alicent was definitely a victim of her father & Viserys, but she blames the wrong person for it (Rhaenyra) bc the answer is to totally buy into the sexist and authoritarian ideals against female sexuale and other sorts of autonomy--as Alicent fails into & chooses to perpetuate.

That is feudalism (the economic-socio-political system) AND absolute monarchy (the form of government). Again, she's fallen, then chooses, to sincerely buy into this system partially bc she has no choice but she also is much too inflexible to reflect on how she's essentially hurting herself and those around her or performing a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. That was the entire point! Alicen tis not unique, too, in how the patriarchal feudal system uses her up! Rhaenyra, Rhaenys, etc, too!

@rhaenyragendereuphoria states it quite simply HERE:

Feudalism is a system of servitude based on giving up your freedom in exchange of protection by a higher lord. It binds serfs to their lords, and lords to other lords all the way to the king. Yes, the whole “Protector of the Realm” is propaganda, but it’s what they believe the job of the king to be. They will give it to the strongest who can protect them from foreign invasions: and it’s hard to think of stronger than “family that literally owns dragons”. This fandom has feudal mentality completely upside down, thinking they loathe their subjugation because subjugation is an affront to freedom. Feudalism IS subjugation. What they loathe is to submit to a weakling. They despise (and hunt, and murder) the Free Folk, calling them “wildlings”, because they’d rather be free than be bound by feudal oaths of subjugation. Feudalism is the rule of “might makes right”. At its roots, it’s a military hierarchy of warlords who bind each others with feeble and fickle treaties until one of them decides to break them and attempt to conquer the others, and either wins or fails.

And in this POST:

However, no one is given rights in these societies, not even men - not the way we would define rights. Their idea of “right” is just as arbitrary as their idea of “freedom”. They are societies based on privileges, and privileges are always revocable, unlike rights.

Alicent has no independent “rights” apart from what I already listed above. At all. Especially since she isn't blood-related to Viserys. Rhaenyra has a birthright, but only once Viserys bestows it upon her.

Alysanne was a Queen Consort, not a Queen Regnant. Visenya & Rhaenys had more law-changing power than Alysanne did while being Consorts and not Regnant Queens, but Aegon’s word was final and he was the Monarch.

And all these women were the sisters of the then-Kings as well as their wives. You’d think that they would have more say, but no. They were obey their husband-kings' final words by Andal/feudal/monarchial custom and law.

There is no contract where it says that Viserys owes Alicent or the Hightowers -- all of them his subjects -- anything except military protection. This is feudalist absolute monarchy as GRRM sets it up and models after the common set up of real life feudal monarchies.

You:

Alicent provided House Targaryen with four healthy dragonriding Targaryens when the Targaryen bloodline was most vulnerable.

Already addressed what a Consort’s repeated purpose is.

And when was this dynasty “most vulnerable”? By all accounts, Viserys’ court and reign was prosperous and peaceful (expect with the Stepstones and towards the end of his reign with Rhaenyra, Alicent, and their kids of course -- but the Stepstones war didn’t affect the actual subjects [peasant or nobles] of Westeros too much to make huge differences in and the stuff with his personal family happened insularly):

Many consider the reign of King Viserys I to represent the apex of Targaryen power in Westeros. Beyond a doubt, there were more lords and princes claiming the blood of the dragon than at any period before or since. Though the Targaryens had continued their traditional practice of marrying brother to sister, uncle to niece, and cousin to cousin wherever possible, there had also been important matches outside the royal family, the fruit of which would play important roles in the war to come. There were more dragons than ever before as well, and several of the she-dragons were regularly producing clutches of eggs.

[...]

The reign of the Young King, as the commons called him upon his ascent, was peaceful and prosperous. His Grace’s open-handedness was legendary, and the Red Keep became a place of song and splendor. King Viserys and Queen Aemma hosted many a feast and tourney, and lavished gold, offices, and honors on their favorites.

(“A Question of Succession”)

If you mean Viserys having a girl as his only scion, I must remind you that:

the Targs had dragons (more dragons than ever and Aegon I/Visenya/Rhaenys, conquered Westeros with only 3)

there were no mentioned, burgeoning signs of rebellion against Rhaenyra until Alicent and Otto started to make waves (post by @theblackqveen)

While this is in the text:

After Viserys makes it clear that he won’t change his mind, it gets more settled, and again, we hear absolutely no mention of any real attempt to prepare against Rhaenyra except from the greens.

I wrote a 2 posts on HotD Alicent and Book!Alicent’s foolishness and narcissism.

THIS is what GRRM says about laws of succession:

There are no clear cut answers, either in Westeros or in real medieval history. Things were often decided on a case by case basis. A case might set a precedent for later cases… but as often as not, the precedents conflicted as much as the claims.

In fact, if you look at medieval history, conflicting claims were the cause of three quarters of the wars.

[...]

The medieval world was governed by men, not by laws. You could even make a case that the lords preferred the laws to be vague and contradictory, since that gave them more power. In a tangle like the Hornwood case, ultimately the lord would decide... and if some of the more powerful claimants did not like the decision, it might come down to force of arms.The bottom line, I suppose, is that inheritance was decided as much by politics as by laws. In Westeros and in medieval Europe both.

Still, if Alicent really is all about just following the rules and being “good”, the she would follow her husband’s order and not antagonize or contradict Rhaenyra. Because part of her Westerosi/Andal customs is that the King/Monarch is paramount and their word is law.

She hypocritically doesn’t follow the law to such a particualr "degree" or whatever that she ends up going against the authoritarian regime's ideals of King's rule and all that for her own stake...mostly unconciously.

So really, she’s about power and misogyny, since she chooses to still make her rapist son King and reap the rewards from his ascendance (who’d follow along for her and her house’s interests more than Rhaenyra would). In the show, she goes after Rhaenyra for presumably sleeping with a man not her husband....while she gives up her feet to fulfill Larys' sexual titillation in exchange for information. So Rhaenyra's sleeping with another man in a consensual setting is wrong, but somehow Alicent allowing herself to be used (she is Queen Consort, she can definitely order Larys around) and silencing one of her son's victims is okay? Both of these things that support sexual abuse? In the book, she turns against Rhaenyra when Rhaenyra is 10, and we can see the implication that they began to actually fight ever since then, so Alicent antagonizes a 10 year old. At the tourney where Daemon comes back in the book, there were Essosi people who witnessed the tension between the two.

And why does she do all that? Because she wants to empower herself, her son, and disempower Rhaenyra. At the same time, Alicent fosters an environment where this is justified.

This is why she is hated. Book!her tries to use Rhaenyra having extramarital sex as pretext for deposing her, yet she is the one going against the King’s word when it is obvious he doesn’t give three shits.

@theroguewyrm answers this ASK where the asker breaks down more of Alicent’s hypocrisy:

[...] Alicent as she has constantly held Rhaenyra accountable for having illegitimate relations with men but when it comes to her she can do it as she cloaks it under the hood of duty. The hypocrisy was also shown when Alicent tolerates every single sexual crime committed by her son in the premises of the Red Keep and outside. If it is benefitting her then she’ll permit them, she’ll stay quiet, but will simultaneously use Rhaenyra’s affair with Harwin to vilify her.

You:

It’s really weird how Viserys referred to Aegon as Otto’s blood and Rhaenyra as his own blood when Aegon is also his child and therefore his blood.

That’s because he distrusts Otto and knows Otto wants his grandkids/these green boys to inherit the throne. Otto went so far as to continue to demand/suggest Viserys change the order of succession several times until Viserys dismissed him:

The amity between Her Grace and her stepdaughter had proved short- lived, for both Rhaenyra and Alicent aspired to be the first lady of the realm...and though the queen had given the king not one but two male heirs, Viserys had done nothing to change the order of succession. The Princess of Dragonstone remained his acknowledged heir, with half the lords of Westeros sworn to defend her rights.

[...]

The matter had been decided, so far as King Viserys was concerned; it was not an issue His Grace cared to revisit. Still, questions persisted, not the least from Queen Alicent herself. Loudest amongst her supporters was her father, Ser Otto Hightower, Hand of the King. Pushed too far on the matter, in 109 AC Viserys stripped Ser Otto of his chain of office and named in his place the taciturn Lord of Harrenhal, Lyonel Strong. “This Hand will not hector me,” His Grace proclaimed.

(“A Question of Succession”)

Viserys was being a bad dad here, I agree. Otto was also stupid as fuck for this. Both him and Alicent. And when it comes to feudalism, the personal and the political are one and the same often. Viserys never learned, I think, to separate himself from kingship because the position and society doesn’t allow for this metaphysical existence, or for it to be practiced seriously and without consequences.

And these are the details of Rhaenyra’s naming-as-heir:

Disregarding the precedents set by King Jaehaerys in 92 and the Great Council in 101, Viserys declared his daughter, Rhaenyra, to be his rightful heir, and named her Princess of Dragonstone. In a lavish ceremony at King’s Landing, hundreds of lords did obeisance to the Realm’s Delight as she sat at her father’s feet at the base of the Iron Throne, swearing to honor and defend her right of succession.

(“A Question of Succession”)

Now from a more pragmatic standpoint, these lords already gave their oaths to Rhaenyra. To go back on it, while maybe welcome to some lords, would also diminish Viserys’ monarchial word’s value because of how huge the chnages are, and how he seems (publicly) to value oaths in general.

While Tyland Lannister says that he never took oaths, oaths are still very seriously taken and regarded generally in this society (or like to think of themselves as doing so).

Viserys was a bad dad. Doesn't make what Alicent did excusable.

You:

The Hightowers behaved like any other family married into the royal family would, so I don’t get why they’re so hated.

We’re talking about the greens, here, not the Hightowers. Two, though related, separate entities for now.

The greens (Alicent, Otto, Aegon, Aemond, Daeron [Helaena is not a real player]) are hated because they are misogynists turned up 11, with an over-inflated sense of their own male privilege. It causes them to maim, rape, cause genocide, attempt assassination against Rhaenyra, even disregard and turn against each other. And at last, make a 10 year old watch as his mother is eaten alive by a dragon.

Even with universal misogyny, I doubt that most other noblemen/individuals would be as murderous, stupid and audacious as these specific people.

BTW, you slipped. Aegon, Ameond, Helaena, and Daeron and the kids from Aegon/Helaena are all Targs. Not Hightowers.

You:

If Viserys didn’t want the Hightowers gaining more influence then he shouldn’t have married Alicent in the first place. It was stupid of him to expect one of the most powerful noble houses in Westeros to accept Targaryens of their blood just being spares instead of kings.

Here’s the text:

Though Princess Rhaenyra had been proclaimed her father’s successor, there were many in the realm, at court and beyond it, who still hoped that Viserys might father a male heir, for the Young King was not yet thirty. Grand Maester Runciter was the first to urge His Grace to remarry, even suggesting a suitable choice: the Lady Laena Velaryon, who had just turned twelve.

(“A Question of Succession”)

We understand through this and through real life feudal politics that a king/Monarch was expected to have as many kids as possible so that in the event one or some die, the others could take their place.

The moment that Otto allowed Alicent to marry Viserys after Rhaenyra had been heir for 2 years, all of Alicent’s kids would have been “spares”. This would be true if Rhaenyra was male.

Alicent and Otto both signed up for this.

However, Rhaenyra is female, so Otto got greedy. It is only the thought that Viserys would automatically change heirs that Otto even contemplated it would be an easy thing to have Alicent’s kids as Viserys’ heirs because he thought Viserys would pass her over.

Take a look at the sociopolitical patterns. This is always the deal for second wives/Queen Consorts. If the monarch had kids from a first marriage , those kids are always before the ones in the second because they came first/are older.

Viserys makes Rhaenyra continue to be his heir and treats her like he would his male heir in that her siblings remain the “spares” they would be if she were male. thereby putting into practice equal primogentiure.

Otto has been with Viserys as his hand for years.....why did he not anticipate something like this?

82 notes · View notes

nayialovecat · 3 years

Note

What's with the paid holliday in strip 53 ;) I thought Alice was terrorising the Butcher gang clones, not that they were working for her! Do they get a holiday? Where do they go?

And you see what the wrong assumption you made? No, I've emphasized it even in the comic itself - the relationship between Twisted Alice and the members of the Butcher Gang is similar to that of Gru and the Minions. They ARE her minions (that is, something on the border of slaves), but on the other hand, it is their choice, they get "paid" for it and, yes, they get holidays, where are sick or harmed - also freetime, etc. What is the Butcher Gang vacation? Well, they don't have to perform dangerous tasks like looking for hearts for their Mistress in the vicinity of Projectionist. Usually, during their holidays they wander around the Angel Zone and make fun of those who don't have holidays, sometimes they will go to Bendyland or somewhere else, but less willingly - Ink People don't like them and it can end in a fight, and a single Butcher has a poor chance against an armed Searcher...

#asknayia #Twisted Alice #Minions #Butcher Gang #BATIM #SATIM #lore

5 notes · View notes

chillyravenart · 4 years

Note

Since your opinions are gold, I was wondering about your take on Daemon's relationships with the different women in his life. I always got the impression that he marries Laena out of love. Rhaenyra was for ambition, lust and I think fondness as well. Lady Misery would be like his booty call/partner-in-crime, and finally Nettle would be like a sort of fondness/protege/mentor thing. But I was curious on what your thoughts were because your opinions are always so cool and fun to read!

Ahh loool I'm so flattered you think so😂😂😂 I think you have the right of it btw, Daemon's relationships with his lady loves were all varied and very exciting to me, because that's just the kind of fictional scoundrel I give my heart and soul to. My opinions on Daemon and his lady loves seem to change a little based on how much I'm thirsting for him at the time. I think he's such a complex and roguish character, there is not exact or correct interpretation of what his relationships were like, paired with the testimony we get from the short stories/Fire & Blood etc. I feel like talking about someone so controversial and spicy is always bound to get people worked up, but since you asked MY OPINION, I shall briefly give it.

I think Daemon loved power first and foremost. His main mistress was ambition (& Dark Sister😂). I think his fondness for the women in his life stemmed from what he could gain from them, but it doesn't mean he didn't love them. Anyone who is expecting or holding Daemon as a paragon of husbandly virtue is wasting their time. Daemon is just such an eclectic, grey character, he's deadly and charming and a total w*t dream to me. And I've come to realise that romance aside, Daemon did things his way because thats who he is.

I think he loved Mysaria because she shared his cunning and ambition, like you said, she was his partner-in-crime. But then he also loved her enough to get her pregnant and present her with a dragon's egg (which Viserys had to confiscate lmaooo). He also maintained a working and romantic relationship with her until much later on, and it arguably soured with the whole incident with Rhaenyra and Nettles ("a queen's words, a whore's work").

I think the accounts may be somewhat correct in insinuating that Daemon married Laena to further his position in court: but I also think that being exiled with her and having his true born twins with her also cemented their relationship. I've always firmly believed that Laena grounded and matured Daemon, because he seemed to change as a man at that point as did his motives. Laena wasn't any shrinking wallflower, she was the beautiful, spirited daughter of two absolute badasses, Corlys and Rhaenys. So none of that UWU PoOr LaEnA bullshit please, the woman defied her family to elope with Daemon and tried to mount her dragon VHAGAR when she was dying ok, give her some credit. (I have a sneaking suspicion Laena may have had something to do with Daemon killing off her betrothed at the time too but that's just my own crack-theory lol). I also think Laena may have been one of his true loves, being a strong personality and the mother of his children had to have had a part to play.

Moving onto Rhaenyra, I think Daemon initially wanted to win her affections as she was heir to the throne and he had his own designs for power at the time. As the accounts tell us, he lavished her with gifts and tales, & the more sordid accounts mention him giving her a sexual education too. At this stage King Viserys had children with Alicent and Daemon's succession became more and more unlikely, even moreso when Rhaenyra had her own children an Viserys already acknowledged Jacaerys as Rhaenyra's successor. Rhaenyra was Daemon's niece after all, they had spent time together both in KL and Dragonstone with each other (alongside their spouses ahem potential ménage à trois ahem) so it stands to reason they grew closer after Laena's death when Rhaenyra "comforted him in his grief". Daemon must have realised at this point that being Prince Consort was the closest he'd get to the Iron Throne, so he married her and had his much awaited sons with her too. Then the Dance began and Daemon exercised his power by fighting for Rhaenyra's claim with vengeance and blood. And that fact that he CROWNED HER??? That was very sexy of him.

You know what else was very sexy of him??? "Lucerys shall be avenged" just gives me goosebumps ALL THE TIME 😂🥵 I have mentioned my thoughts on Daemon x Rhaenyra my OTP, my loves, my favourite beguiling pairing EVER here if you want to have a look. I think Daemon used every power available to him to fight for Rhaenyra, he was loyal to her cause and died for her too. Him sleeping around doesn't bother me lmao, if you're looking for morality in Daemon "City Boy" Targaryen, you need your heads checked 😂

I also think Daemon's relationship with Nettles was also very complex. There are instances when its described as romantic and instances where its described as paternal. At this stage the Dance had wreaked a lot of havoc and Rhaenyra's hold in KL was also growing timorous. Dragons were dying, Targaryens were dying, people were dying. Rhaenyra had suffered loss, betrayal, death - she was fractured and paranoid and rightfully so. Maybe Daemon was growing soft in his "old age" and connected with the fearless Nettles because she reminded him of himself, and his roguish youth. I think there is more to their relationship judging by how he defied Rhaenyra to let her escape and his (& Caraxes) reactions to Nettles departure. Nettles herself had tears streaming down her face. I know there are theories that he may have been her father and they're definitely not far-fetched so make of that what you will. Daemon decided to take Aemond/Vhagar down as his swan song and he did 🔥❤

I just love Daemon as a character SO much, he's equal parts hero and equal parts villain and I think his complexity allows for a greater understanding and interpretation of his motives and romantic relationships. I've always found his various trysts and relationships so interesting and he genuinely made The Dance super sexy for me too. I'll keep my incredibly thirsty thoughts to myself though lmaooo. Hope this answered your question and thank you so much for thinking my opinions are anything but a rambling hot mess😂❤

#daemon targaryen #daemon x women #daemon x laena #daemon x rhaenyra #mysaria #nettles #the dance of the dragons #asks #chillyravenart answers

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feminist-propaganda · 3 years

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Single Mothers Will Probably Cry During Every Episode Of Queen’s Gambit - Episode 1

I’ll start this long piece with a quote by Toni Morrisson. She once said : “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

After watching Queen’s Gambit yesterday I rushed to the Internet to see if someone had written all of the things I am about to write, all of the symbols I saw in the miniseries, all of the dog whistles, the references. I found articles about chess. About how the community had adopted the film, about which grandmasters the characters were based off of, about chess moves and theories, about production and the unexpected success of the series.

According to me, this is quite mediocre commentary. I eventually clicked on the New Yorker article that seemed to be a tiny bit smarter. After a couple of paragraphs I realized that the male writer was only going to rant about how the actress is “too pretty” to be Beth Harmon, and this seems to upset him. A lot.

But no one talked about Beth’s mother. Or the name of the series. Or the embroidery. The chess board. The tranquilizers. The math. The flashbacks. The exchange of queens. The sacrifice of the queen. Did no one see it? Or is it again one of those things; where the world is so obsessed with single mothers and representing them as huge, massive, quite literal train wrecks, but no one actually wants to look at them in the eye, talk to them, help them?

Let me tell you, as a single mother, this miniseries had me in tears the whole time. It’s really difficult to watch. It’s downright triggering.

Single mothers like to keep their silence. That’s because we know the world doesn’t like it when we start talking. It hurts. A lot. So instead, the world likes to make memes about how single moms are whores, how they are drunks or over worked. How they’re psychotic. How they ramble. They don’t make any sense. Bipolar. Crazy. How their children stare at the television all day, the way they microwave bad food. We laugh at them, and use them as comical relief in our ... what exactly? Cultural objects. Then we move on. We send a message to single mothers when we do this, and the message is important. You suck. Shut Up. Don’t exist. It’s your fault.

We make an entire mini series about a single mother who killed herself to save her kid, we put on the television images that hurt and harm single mothers and then the public responds with nothing. They don’t even bat an eyelash. Miss the point entirely. Great series about chess! Except it’s not about chess. Not at all. It’s about raising children alone, when the world hates you. It’s about a trailer. In the middle of nowhere. A strong willed woman who was a mathematician in the 1940s. Who taught her daughter everything she could. Realized she couldn’t do more. And made the ultimate sacrifice, the queen’s gambit. The riskiest, most reckless, bravest move of all.

So let me tell you about what it’s like to watch Queen’s Gambit when you’re a single mother. So that somewhere in the AI, it’s written. So that when our great grand children will try to understand our times, they’ll read it.

I’ll write an essay for each episode. And in each essay I will review the important lession that Alice passed on to young Beth, and how this takes her to Moscow, where she can live a much more fulfilling life than in the U.S.A.

Lesson 1 : Find A Two Dimensional Algebric Plane. Study It. Control It.

I recently learned from instagram user @itllbeokbaby and Amsterdam based artist and weaver Liza Prins that the words textile and text have the same origin as the word texture.

Text derives from the Latin textus (a tissue), which is in turn derived from texere (to weave). It belongs to a field of associated linguistic values that includes weaving, that which is woven, spinning, and that which is spun, indeed even web and webbing. Textus entered European vernaculars through Old French, where it appears as texte and where it assumes its important relation with tissu (a tissue or fabric) and tisser (to weave).

Women have been weaving, beading, sowing and stitching since the dawn of times. We also know that women used this technology not just to create clothes, tents or shoes. They used it as a container of information. As cultural DNA.

In South America, in places where writing as we know of it was never created, women would bead important tribal information into skirts. They would then use the skirts as a database of the tribe. To track births, deaths, epidemics, droughts and other important group defining events.

In modern times, women still use embroidery as a means of expression. My memories from childhood contain strong images of my aunts and grandmothers, sewing my name and date of birth onto pillow cases, bathrobes and bedcovers. They would do this by the pool, at the bottom of the ski slopes, on the beach or in the train. They would engage into conversation as they embroidered; as this activity required some concentration, but not their full attention. It was their way of being present; but also transcending into the past and projecting into the future. They sewed our lives into the cloth.

I once heard my grandmother counting the holes in the cloth she was decorating with her beautiful colours. I asked what she was doing. She said that to build the letters on the cloth, you needed to count the squares. Two to the top, four to the right, ten to the middle, etc etc. I was quite mesmerized. I was maybe eight at the time, the same age as Beth when she loses her mother. I had started learning some math in school but somehow the math in school seemed to be presented to me as the epitome of something quite different than this excruciatingly feminine passtime.

Math was presented to me as masculine, out of reach to us girls. And now I was disovering that these women in my family were geometry experts, fluent in linear algebra, and that at a higher level, they were database account managers.

In the first episode of the miniseries, in the first couple of minutes; we discover two Beths. The first Beth is in Paris, the beautiful, the chic; the glamourous Paris. Paris will always be the undisputed capital of Fashion.

Paris is the undisputed capital of fashion not because it is the home of polluting massive textile industries like the ones in Pakistan or Zara’s empire in Spain. Paris is the capital of fashion because it is the capital of Haute Couture. And Haute Couture is custom made, sowed by hand, piece by piece, bead by bead, sequin per sequin. It is delicate. It is slow. It is sacred. It is what my aunt’s did.

It is the opposite of industrial, the opposite of a sewing machine, the opposite of an engine. The opposite of yield failures, punching in and punching out. It is lace. Delicate, personal, eternal.

The second Beth we see is the eight year old Beth, that has just lost her mother. She stands on a bridge. Two cars have crashed into one another. And she stares on at the police officers. One says “Not a scratch on her. It’s a miracle”. The other says “I doubt she’ll see it like that”.

My theory is that the miniseries explain how Beth eventually begins to “see it like that”.

The first time we see 8 year old Beth she is wearing a dress, with her name embroidered on it. It reads Beth, in pink. Feminine. Purple flowers surround it. The embroidery is delicate. It’s on her heart.

We follow eight year old Beth as she gets sent to an orphanage. In the first couple of scenes at the orphanage, we think, for a minute, that maybe Beth will be okay here. The head mistress smiles, has nice hair. Shows her around. Yes, the bed is by the lavatory, but at least she has a bed, a roof over her head.

We only start despising this new mother figure when she takes Beth to choose new clothes. Beth takes off her dress, and stares at her name, written on the front. The headmistress selects a white shirt and grey dress for Beth. She hands to her these new items, symbol of her new life, of her integration within the orphanage and later mainstream society. The headmistress then grabs the dress with the name embroidered and looks at it with disgust. Then, she says “I think we’ll burn this one” and disapears.

Beth then understands that she is no longer allowed to love her mother. That to fit in this school, this orphanage, to survive, she must let go of the embroidery and all of the things she associates with her mother. Her mother, in the words of the teacher was a “victim” of “a carefree life”. A free spirited whore, a lesbian, a witch. There’s a lot of words we liek to use to describe women who don’t conform. And Beth’s mother, as we learn, never conformed.

At night, Beth sees her mother’s eyes, she hears the last words her mother uttered before dying in the car crash. “Close your eyes”. She said it with tears in her eyes and an air of great determination. She knew what she was doing, which is something Beth doesn’t want to tell anyone. Not even her new friend Jolene. Beth’s secret is her mother wasn’t crazy. She wasn’t crazy at all.

Then, Beth discovers the board. One day, she gets sent to the basement and sees the janitor playing chess. Later in the miniseries, Beth tells the journalist from Life it was the board that attracted her. Not the pieces.

As the first episode unfolds, Beth learns that the squares have names. She learns the names. And at night when she looks up at the ceiling she sees the board. She visualizes the pieces moving on the 64 squares. She moves them in her mind and imagines all of the alternatives. What the board would look like if she moved this piece to that square. What would her opponent do then?

To the journalist of the Life magazine, Beth says that the Chess board was a universe of 64 squares, and that she could control this space. All she had to do was study it.

The board is much like the cloth that Beth’s mother Alice would sew information onto when she was a young child. You count the squares and move your material through it. As you go, you make shapes, patterns, motifs. Beth looks up at the ceiling at night and the first night, without the tranquilizers, she sees her mother say “Close your eyes” which is too painful or such a young child. A young child doesn’t understand yet why a mother would say “Close your eyes” and then crash on purpose into a truck. A young child doesn’t know about the world yet.

Alice aknowledged that she was about to do something extremely risky, that the outcome was uncertain. Alice told Beth that she was going to purposely provoke the car crash.

But when Beth takes the tranquilizers at night, and now that she knows about chess, she can transfer her love for her mother into her growing obsession with Chess. She looks up at the ceiling and instead of seeing Alice’s last thoughts, she sees the Chess board. Which is the small piece of universe that Alice controlled, when she was alive. The cloth that she sewed her daughter’s name on: “So that you’ll always remember who you are”.

#feminism #single mom #the queen's gambit

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psycheswritings · 4 years

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Nothing’s Fair in Love and War - One

Title: Nothing’s Fair in Love and War

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Original Female Character (Daphne Scott)

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 4770

Author’s Note: Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah for everybody. If you're not celebrating something different or not celebrating at all, feel welcome too. As promised, the first real chapter of the saga is here. Hope you all like it. Again, this haven’t been proofread, so feel free to report any mistakes back to me; warnings are expecific for each chapter. Also, your feedback is also highly appreciated.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Masterlist

Summary: Thomas Shelby wants to expand his business to London and for that to be possible he needs to form and alliance with the unpredictable Alfie Solomons. However he may get more than what he was bargaining for when he meets Daphne, a mysterious woman who works alongside the Jew gangster.

One

Buried into an unrealistic amount of paperwork the last thing Daphne thought that could happen that day was Thomas Shelby appearing at the door of the bakery asking to talk to Alfie.

She couldn’t believe it when Ollie came into her office saying that the leader of the Peaky Blinders – who was supposed to be in a hospital bed for at least two more weeks – was there waiting to talk to their boss. She stared at the younger man in front of her for what seemed like a few minutes until he spoke again.

“Josiah is holding him at the door. He doesn’t look so well but is insisting in talking to Alfie.”

“Ok, go on there and hold him for a minute while I go talk to Alfie.” The woman said while getting up from her chair and leaving the room. When she crossed the corridor towards Alfie’s office she saw the Brummie gangster in the distance. It was clear that he was giving a hard time to Josiah, who was trying to hold him back. He was impeccably dressed in a suit, something that made him quite distinguished in the middle of a distillery, but her trained eyes could see that he was in some kind of pain. Ollie made his way towards the both of them, discharging Josiah. Thomas attention was brought to her and despite the distance Daphne recognized a spark of surprise mixed with curiosity in his face.

“Ever heard of fucking knocking?” Daphne simply rolled her eyes, at least he was in a good mood.

“Thomas Shelby is here.” His reaction was immediate, lifting his gaze from the papers in his hands and looking directly at her while she approached his desk.

“Fucking what?”

“Well, you did send him the telegram, didn’t you? It was almost an invitation, you had to be expecting that he would take it.”

“Well, not so soon, love. Our associate didn’t said that he was beaten to death?” Confusion painted the gangster’s face while he looked expectantly at the woman in front of him.

“He was ambushed by Sabini and his men not a week ago.” She paused remembering what Alice had said to her. “A friend of mine who works in the hospital in Birmingham said that he was severely injured and that he would be discharged of the hospital care in more or less a month. If he was lucky.”

“Hell, what is he doing here then?”

“Trying to talk to you.” Daphne simply said. “He was giving Josiah a hard time, Ollie is holding him back now.” Alfie stood up in between a bunch of curses, heading to the door. When he passed Daphne, he stopped and looked at her before saying:

“You stay in your office. Let me deal with him. I don’t want you around this one more than what is necessary.”

“Alfie, this is really the best time for you to play big brother with me?” She almost rolled her eyes but he seemed serious so she held herself back. Goddammit, she knew how to fend for herself but he always seemed to forget it.

“Anytime is a good time to protect you from danger you don’t have to expose yourself to. I made a promise that I don’t intend on breaking.” They just stared at each other for a moment before he left the room leaving the door open for her. Daphne’s fingers immediately searched for the locket hanging in a chain around her neck, playing with it. She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the lump in her throat before following his steps out of the room. This wasn’t the moment to revisit the past. Her eyes crossed with Tommy’s when she was going back to her office and she saw the spark of interest in the way he watched her.

He was going to be trouble, that much she was certain.

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Thomas watched carefully as Alfie Solomons walked through the extent of the distillery to meet him at the door. He was still intrigued by the woman who passed by – he had done his research and none of them lead to a wife or a significant other in the Jewish gangster’s life. A sister would also appear on his radar, just like Ada did to Sabini. No, beautiful as she was and walking freely at the distillery she had to mean something important Solomons. Mistress, maybe? Thomas wasn’t inclined on believing Alfie would permit his mistress to walk around the distillery freely, commanding his business as her own. Besides, she seemed too classy to sell herself like that but appearances are deceiving. He would discover their bond one way or another.

“Put him down, Ollie. Put him down, mate. He is only little.” Ollie took a step back immediately and Thomas took one forward, towards Alfie who looked quizzically at him before asking “You on your own?”

“Seems so.” Tommy said after looking behind him almost mockingly. Alfie said nothing on the subject - the man was bold, he had to give him that. Another reason to keep Daphne as far as possible from him.

“Well, you're a brave lad, ain't you?” He started walking back to where he came from, Tommy in his heels and Ollie right behind. “You want to take a look at my bakery? We bake all sorts here, mate, yeah. Did you know we bake over ten thousand loaves a week? Can you believe it? We bake the white bread, we bake the brown bread. We bake all sorts.” The Jew stopped turning to look at Tommy, a table with glasses and a couple of bottles of what the Brummie supposed was rum right in front of them. “Would you like to try some? Bread? Yeah?” Thomas sniffed before looking between the table and Alfie. This seemed like some kind of test.

“All right.”

“What would you like, brown or white?”

“Will try the brown.”

“Brown, right.” Two glasses were poured and the both man took them. Tommy took a sip of the drink while Alfie studied his reaction closely.

“Not bad.” He stated after analyzing the contents of the glass and putting it back down on the table.

“Not bad? Not bad, huh?” They stared at each other for a few moments. “It's fucking awful that stuff. Fucking brown stuff is awful, but it's for the workers. Yeah. White stuff now, right, is for the bosses. Come look.” Them Alfie led Thomas to his office with a smiling Ollie behind them.

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“Well, I've heard very bad, bad, bad things about you Birmingham people. Tsk, tsk, eh?” Thomas looked unimpressed as he took a pack of cigarettes and matches from the table, lightening one and taking a drag. “You're gypsies, right? So what, do you live in a fucking tent or caravan?”

“I came here to discuss business with you, Mr. Solomons.” Thomas completely ignored Alfie’s attempt of putting him off by making comments about his heritage. The other man clapped his hands, leaning into the desk between them.

“Well, rum is for fun and fucking, isn't it? So, whiskey, now that, that is for business.” Alfie opened a drawer in his desk from where he took a bottle of whiskey.

“Let's talk first, eh?” Solomons scratched his beard, analyzing Tommy once again before taking back the bottle from the desk. He immediately remembered Daphne’s words from right after the moment they discovered that the Brummie and his brothers had crashed into the Eden Club, that he was underestimating the Blinders.

“Suit yourself.” While he put the whiskey back on the drawer, Alfie continued. “They say you had your life saved by a policeman!”

“I have policeman on my payroll.”

“I don’t like policeman, because policeman, they can’t be trusted.”

“Mr. Sabini uses policeman all the time. That’s why he is winning the war in London and you’re losing it.” That made the Jew’s blood boil and his answer was sharp. Maybe Daphne was right, after all.

“A war ain’t over till it’s over, mate.” Alfie narrowed his eyes, his hands closed in fists. “You were in the war?” He opened the top drawer again while talking. “I once carried out my own personal form of stigmata on a Italian. I pushed his face up against the trench and shoved a six-inch nail up his fucking nose and I hammered it home with a duckboard. It was fucking biblical, mate. So don’t come in here and sit there in my chair and tell me that I’m losing my war to a fucking wop.”

“That war was a long time ago. You need to be more realistic.” Alfie slammed the drawer shut again. He didn’t liked the fact that he could clearly picture Daphne saying the very same thing to him.

“Realistic, eh?” He leaned into the desk once again. “Realistic.”

“Well, if you weren’t losing the war then you wouldn’t have sent me that telegram.” Thomas stated taking another drag of the cigarette. He was getting where he wanted.

“Really? You forget your fucking telegram, the telegram just said “hello”.” His tone was dismissive. “Face it, you want to sell me something.” Alfie paused for a second. “What?”

“We join forces.”

“Fuck off. No. Categorical. Fucking ridiculous.” Alfie said reclining back into his chair. It was Tommy’s time to come forward and lean on the desk.

“Mr. Solomons, your distillery provides one-tenth of your income. Protection is another ten percent and the rest you make from the race tracks.” While Thomas was talking, Alfie kept toying with the drawer’s handle what made Brummie gangster annoyed. “I know you keep a gun in the drawer. I know you keep it beside the whiskey. I know you offer a deal or death.” They just stared at each other for a moment in a battle of wits. “I know what I’m saying makes you angry but I’m offering you a solution.” The Jewish gangster scratched his beard once again while Thomas continued talking. “You see, Mr. Sabini is running all your bookies off your courses. And he is closing down the premises that take your rum. And people don’t trust your protection anymore.”

“You’re the blow that shoot Billy Kimber, right?” Alfie asked pointing at Tommy. “You did, you fucking shot him. That’s you.” The Brummie just stayed silent. “You fucking betrayed him, mate. So it’ll be only appropriate to do what I’m thinking in my head to you right now.” The Jew’s right hand came to rest on the drawer’s handle. Thomas seemed unfazed by it – he didn’t care about dying anymore. He also knew that Solomons wouldn’t have send him the telegram if he wasn’t interested in his help, so he was convinced that all that was more of a demonstration of power than anything else.

“I can offer you a hundred good men, all with weapons and a new relationship with the police.”

“Intelligence. Intelligence is a very valuable thing, ain’t it, my friend. And usually it comes far too fucking late.” Alfie puts a gun at Tommy’s face then. “Let’s say I shoot you already, right, in the fucking face. And the bullet goes bone, mush, bone, cabinet, over there. Which is a shame, isn’t it? Because that cabinet is fucked, now I gotta get shot of it. So, what I do is this. It’s fucking simple, mate.” Tommy’s nose starts bleeding at the same time Alfie uncocks the gun and put it down on the table. “I cut that cabinet in half, don’t I? I do, I just cut the cabinet, I cut…” Alfie throws a handkerchief at the table towards Tommy that just ignores it and cleans the blood from his face with his hand. “I cut the cabinet literally in half, mate. And I take one half of the cabinet, right, and I put it into a barrel and take the other half of the cabinet and all its pieces and I put it into another barrel, right. And I send this barrel off to Mandalay and the other barrel to somewhere like… I don’t know. Timbuktu. Have you ever been?”

“No.”

“No? Would you like to go?”

“No.”

“Yeah, I always thought you’d have a great, big, fucking gold ring in your nose.” They just stared at each other again. “I am sorry, go on. Tell us your plan.”

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Not much time after Daphne was back in her office, Ollie came in telling that she was needed down on the bakery. She sighed before following him. It was always like that, when Alfie wasn’t available she was the one to deal with the important things. She was talking to one of their associates when she heard Alfie’s thunderous voice calling her name. He was at the door of his office searching for her. When their eyes met, Daphne raised her brows in a questioning look. He just discharged it by signing her to come over, telling the man she was talking to to wait a minute.

Alfie waited for her at the door, putting a protective hand at her back when she reached him. Daphne did not question him, she just entered the office with him right behind her back. Thomas was standing, waiting for her, intrigued by the interaction between her and the Jewish gangster. She noticed the bottle of whiskey on the desk beside two glasses. Then Alfie got what he wanted, after all. But when didn’t he? That was the reason why he wanted her there - he knew she would have to deal with the Shelby’s now that they were officially doing business together and he wanted to have control on how she would met their leader. It was somewhat of laying a claim on her for protection but at the same time, it showed that she was leading things as much as he was.

“Tommy, mate, this is my second in command, my right hand woman, Daphne.” It didn’t go unnoticed by Tommy or Daphne the lack of addressing her last name.

“Thomas Shelby.” He offered her his hand that she took while saying.

“I know.” That made him smile and Alfie scratched his beard in thinking, once again.

“Okay, I made you acquainted because you’ll probably deal with her when I’m not available. Daphne knows everything about the business, probably more than me, mate. So, you fucking respect her and everything should be fine.” That sparked Thomas curiosity - so she worked for Solomons. It was unusual for a man like Alfie to have a woman as his right hand. Of course he had Polly as his second in line but she was family and family should be trusted and put above all. These two didn’t seemed related and yet there was one of the most feared gangster’s in London trusting his business to a woman that Thomas didn’t knew what meant to him. Yet.

“Wouldn’t think otherwise.” Thomas eyes were fixed on her and Daphne noticed for the first time how blue they were. She should feel intimidated, probably, but all she felt was curious. They were interrupted by a knock on the door, it was Ollie.

“I’m sorry, Alfie, but Mr. Sawyer insists on talking to one of you right this moment.” The Jew gangster sighed.

“Fucking hell, that man. Daph, can you…”

“No way. You talk to him. I will take Mr. Shelby to the door, it seems your business here is already finish.” She looked between the two men. “For now.” She left the office without looking back, waiting for the Brummie just outside. Mr. Sawyer appeared in her field of vision with Ollie, making a beeline to her.

“Oh, if it’s not a sight for sore eyes.” The older man kissed the back of Daphne’s hand right, lingering for a little more than was appropriated, in the moment that Tommy and Alfie appeared at the door. Daphne didn’t seemed intimidated or uncomfortable, just annoyed.

“Leave the poor woman alone, Sawyer. Let’s talk business.” Mr. Sawyer said something that Daphne didn’t bothered to take in before he entered Alfie’s office with Ollie on his heels, she was distracted by the feeling of Thomas eyes on her.

“Quite famous around here, aren’t you.” Was all he said when they were left alone in the hall. She just smiled and started walking towards the exit.

“You could say so.”

“Didn’t knew Alfie had a woman.” He commented, trying to fish for information - information that Daphne wasn’t willing to share yet.

“Believe me when I say that Alfie doesn’t have any problem finding women.”

“You’re what, his mistress?” That made Daphne stop in her tracks and turn to look him in the eye. They were already at the front doors and Tommy took the opportunity to take her in better in the light of day– she wore white blouse and light brown skirts that stopped a little above her ankles, boots on her feet. He didn’t noticed many jewelry, just a ring on her left hand, some earrings and a golden locket hanging from her neck. Thomas also noticed that she had hazel eyes that were looking at him with a hint of amusement that he did not expect.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.” She saw a glimpse of surprise in his features caused by her answer, so she continued. “Don’t take me for a fool, Mr. Shelby. Besides, there are things better left unknown. Now, if that’s all, I think you’re free to go. Have a good day, Mr. Shelby.” With that she smiled and left him there, speechless, watching her disappear inside the distillery asking himself where the hell did she came from.

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More than an hour after she had left Thomas at the door, Alfie stepped into her office and took a sit in one of the chairs in front of her desk. She did her best to ignore his presence, not taking her eyes of the book she was working on, but it was really difficult to do that when he made his mission to keep moving in the chair, puffing every second and making noises indicating his annoyance to drawn her attention. When she couldn’t bear it anymore she put the pencil down and looked straight into his eyes, making him stop shuffling around.

“Do you need something, Alfie?”

“Aye, actually I do.” He kept staring at her and she just raised a brown in acknowledgment. She knew exactly what he wanted – her opinion on Thomas Shelby – but she wouldn’t make things easier for him. “What did you think about the gypsy?” She hated his word use - especially his tone - but choose to ignore it. You had to know how to pick your battles and that one could wait.

“You already know what I think about it.”

“I know what you think about doing business with him not of him in itself.” Alfie explained, pressing her for an analyses and Daphne let out a heavy breath, leaning into the chair.

“He is trouble.” She paused for a moment thinking about their brief interaction. “He is overconfident, overly ambitious and he is fearless.” Alfie could see the conflict in her eyes. “He is dangerous, Alfie. That’s what he is.”

“Well, I’m dangerous too, love.”

“It’s different.” She picked the pencil from the table and started to play with it. “It’s like you are two sides of the same coin, it’s just… I don’t know how to feel about him.”

“Did he tried something in his way out?” She noticed the hide concern in his question - Alfie was good in disguising his worries about her as something just business related.

“No. He just assumed I was your mistress. He’s very bold, we have to give him that.” A smile crept up onto her face.

“Mistress? The lad is out of his mind, that’s what he is.” He leaned closer to the table, anger seeping through his features.

“He’s not the first to assume that and he won’t be the last.” Alfie knew that it was true. He had heard the rumors around Camden about them both being romantically involved. When he came back from the war with the beautiful girl in his heels people just assumed, in particular because she went to live with him. Bu things were not like that for them – they were like brother and sister and Alfie hated that people just assumed that she had to be opening her legs for him. “You didn’t help it by not revealing my surname.”

“I just wanted to know what he knew about us. He clearly had done his fair share of research. Even knew where I was supposed to keep the gun.”

“It’s only fair, you’ve had done your research on him too.”

“And now we know that he didn’t knew about you. We can use that to our advantage.” They stayed quiet for a while, just staring at nothing, both deep in thought.

“Do you really think it was a good idea to make a deal with him?” Daphne knew they had to do something about the war against Sabini but was still unsure if the Peaky Blinders were worth the trouble.

“We need to win the war, Daph. We will just use him and after that we part ways, aye?”

“That’s the thing, Alfie, I don’t believe that Thomas Shelby is one to be discarded that easily.”

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“There’s something bothering you.” Polly had noticed it since her nephew had come back from London. A hint of something she could not quite figure out.

“There is a woman.” Thomas simple said taking another drag of his cigarette.

“A woman?” Polly was confused.

“Yep.”

“With Solomons?” Thomas nodded. “Well, a wife would have been mentioned. Maybe she is his mistress?”

“I thought about that but I don’t believe so. She is acquainted with the business. He introduced her as his second in command.” The older woman raised her brows in thinking.

“Second in command. Interesting choice of words.”

“Indeed. She appears to be highly educated and the men seem to trust her. Solomons certainly does.” He had been thinking about his short interaction with the mysterious woman – Daphne, the name swayed in his mouth as whiskey, sweet and smooth. She had been on the back of his mind since then, usually the only thing that kept his mind off thinking about the letter in his pocket.

“Well, you better discover who she is. If he has her in so high regards it could be of some value being in her good sides.” Polly was right, of course, Daphne could be an asset to them, but Tommy wanted to discover who she was for entirely different reasons.

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The Garrison was packed - people everywhere for the grand reopening of the pub. Tommy wasn't really in the mood for partying, but he had to keep the appearances. The last few days haven't been the easiest ones for him - Aunt Polly was giving him the cold shoulder because he couldn't reveal where her son was, Arthur had been on edge after killing a boy in the boxing ring, he had to sort some things out about the deal with Solomons and on top of it all, Grace's letter had been sitting on his pocket since Lizzie gave it to him.

For all of that, he found himself sitting alone at one of the tables at the back of the pub, staring at the envelope in front of him. He lit a match and set it on fire just as Polly entered through the back door. She just ignored him and his calls after her, going straight to the party. Not long after Ada entered the pub, Polly immediately going after her niece. Tommy took a glass of champagne for Ada at the same time Esme took Karl from his sister. He made his way to the two women.

“Hello, Ada.” Polly stopped talking mid-sentence, exhaling loudly before leaving them. The gangster handed the glass of champagne to his sister.

“Tommy.” She noticed the tension between his brother and their aunt.

“What do you think, eh?” The two of them start to walk, Ada observing their surroundings.

“It's very, hum...”

“Gold?” He asked with humor.

“Yeah.” Then John appears, hugging Ada and they talk to each other briefly. When he is gone, she turns to talk to Tommy once again. “So what do you want me to say to her?”

“Just talk to her. Nobody can get through to her. Tell her I have no choice.” Ada nods towards him. “I appreciate this.” He observes as Ada leaves him to talk to Polly. The older woman looks at him with disdain while talking to her niece, before leaving to talk with a young man in the other side of the room. He was about to return to the back room when a furor at the front door caught his attention.

There at the doors of the Garrison was Daphne, in a beautiful velvet dress, the deep green of the fabric complimenting beautifully the color of her eyes, making them spark in the light. She held a black coat in one of her arms and a folder in the other. The sight of her took Tommy aback - the woman had been haunting his thoughts for days in a row. She searched the room for Tommy and when her eyes found his she smiled.

He didn’t needed to look around to know that almost all of the heads in the room had turned to her or that people were analyzing the beautiful stranger smiling to the leader of the Peaky Blinders. She started to walk towards him and Tommy couldn’t avoid staring at the way the fabric of her dress brushed over the black stockings covering her legs or the way her hips moved from side to side.

“Mr. Shelby.” They shook hands holding each other gazes.

“Daphne. I would address you properly if I knew your last name.”

“Daphne works fine for me.” She simply answered with a smirk on her face. Thomas almost smiled to himself - she what game he was playing and wasn’t going to give in that easily.

“You are here for the party?”

“Unfortunately, no. Alfie sends you his regards and some papers that need tend to.” She said showing him the folder in her hands.

“And he sent you all the way from London at this hour just to give me some papers?” Her smile only grew at his direct approach.

“Contrary to popular belief my life doesn’t revolve around Alfie’s.” The way she addressed the Jew gangster so casually wasn’t lost to him. Neither did the fact that she had no problem talking back at him - he didn’t intimidate her and Thomas found that amusing. “I was visiting a friend at the hospital and since I was already there it was only logical bringing you the documents.” A friend in the hospital – that could be useful to his research.

“Alfie really trusts you.”

“We have history.” Tommy couldn’t quite explain why her statement bothered him. It was obvious that Daphne and Alfie shared a strong bond or he would not let her around dealing with his business. He also knew that she wasn’t his wife but she didn’t denied being his mistress, although he didn’t believed in it being true considering her reaction towards his questioning at the bakery. The simple thought of it being true made him angry.

“I don’t believe in the sight before my eyes. If it isn’t Daphne Scott here in the good old Small Heat!”

“Ada Thorne. Back to your hometown, I see” The two woman shared a long hug while a very confused Tommy watched the interaction.

“Just visiting the family.” Ada looked at Tommy and he noticed that one of Daphne’s hand instantly searched for the golden locket that rested hidden between her breasts. “What are you doing here? And where did you had the displeasure of meeting one of my brothers?” Daphne and Tommy shared a glance towards one another before she spoke again.

“Thomas is working with my boss, I was collateral damage.” Ada looked at her brother and then at her friend.

“Well, you better keep your eyes open because this one is trouble.”

“Yeah, I figured that much.” Ada noticed the way Tommy’s eyes sparkled hearing Daphne – a hint of his mischievous old self. She smiled to herself since the pair seemed too lost into each other to notice. Maybe it was a good thing they had met after all.

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szopenhauer · 4 years

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Think of a movie and now give me that movie title: random Elvira: Mistress of the Dark

Quote a line from that movie:

Name a song: random MARUV & Boosin — I Want You

What’s a line from that song? Baby turn me, turn me on All night long What’s the last word spelled backwords of that line? GNOL XD Whats the relationship between you and the last person you texted? my fiancee What would your name be if you replaced T’s with S’s & A’s with E’s? Zuzenne Would you ever legally change you name to that? nah Your boyfriend/girlfriend say they can’t hang out & it’s been two weeks. You? ok How often do you think about death? all the time Where were you when you had your first sleepover? Your house or a friends’? friend’s - P.W.

Are you hungry?: thirsty

What did you buy last time you went to the store?: food? bread not food? trinkets - for example - two books and a tiny stuffed dog

Do you think stained glass windows are pretty?: I don’t know tbh

Are you a chocoholic?: not at all

Have you ever been carded when buying something? : not even when I was buying cigarettes

Do you have a favorite highlighter color?: yellow

Do you have a flashlight?: I do

Do you like watermelon?: nah

Has anyone ever walked in on you while you were on the toilet?: obvi, many times but usually just family members

Do you like a lot of ice in your drinks?: noooo

Have you ever painted a room?: bathroom Have you ever petted a donkey? from what I remember

Out of all 24 hours, which one is your favourite? hmm... Have you ever been in a lighthouse? nope

What time are you planning on going to bed tonight? no idea Have you ever been bit by an animal? yeah Did it rain today? kinda What was the name of the last dog you pet? it was my dog - Łasuch Do you find that you have a certain meal you eat every time you go to certain restaurants? sure Are you constantly judging people? could say so Have you ever had anything stolen from you? sorta Which would you rather, a snowy day, sunny day, rainy day or cloudy day?: cloudy or sunny maybe rainy but definitely not snowy How long have you ever spent away from home? month? Has your luggage ever been lost at the airport? Did you get it back? - About how many times during the night do you wake up from your sleep? few Are there any air fresheners in your house? What kinds? no What scent of candle do you burn the most? we don’t For what reason did you last cry? ugh... What kind of surveys do you wish there were more of? deep

Last time you were attacked by an animal? this summer? Are you paranoid all the time or just during the night? more often during the day actually Have you ever dated someone without knowing their name? last name, not first, I was a stupid kid and was dating a guy online once and several boys at camp just to show off somebody likes me that way even tho I wasn’t really interested nor knew anything about those matters

If you go to an all-you-can-eat buffet, how much do you really eat? a tiny bit If you need to ask a question in class do you raise your hand? of course How many times have you been engaged (if any at all)? once, currently Do you have to see something to really believe it? jak niewierny Tomasz - często Have you ever gotten so dehydrated that you passed out? I’m surprised that I didn’t :x If your friend was being cheated on, would you tell them? absolutely Do you always assume the worst? that me indeed Are you sick and tired of life? sadly Have you ever been busted for under age drinking? I wasn’t drinking underage, I still don’t drink Do you have a picture of you and your lover kissing? 1 and a tik tok Have you witnessed a fight at school? bunch

What is your favorite time of day to run? when I’m late for the bus lmfao

When was the last time you talked to your mom? recently Do your parents crush your dreams? sometimes Did you sleep in today? I didn’t Do you hate sleeping in? I love sleeping in How late do you consider too late to sleep in? noon, 11am is already late How long have you had a smartphone? less than 5 years Do you keep lists of names that you like? even tho I don’t want kids :P Have you ever butt-dialed someone? it happened

First letter of the names of everyone you have kissed, like *that*; M.

Do you like going to school sports games? eww, boring Have you ever worn your boyfriend’s clothes? guy from camp gave me his cap for a day Have you ever stolen your sibling’s clothes? I had to wear them when she was growing up, gross Have you ever loved someone and HATED it? later? Do you like Starbucks or would you rather just have water or something? just water lol Have you ever walked into a door before? po maturze zapomniałam, że woźny zamknął drzwi, które się same otwierały i walnęłam w nie, raz przytrzepałam sie w futrynę bo za szybko skręciłam w nocy do pokoju, mama uderzyła mnie drzwiami jak byłam mała i stałam za blisko wejścia dzwoniąc do domu więc spadłam ze schodów, a ojciec stuknął mnie tymi dworcowymi przy wiadukcie i wylałam na siebie sok - to chyba wszystkie przypadki Do you know anyone who’s like, psycho-religious? fanatic? my uncle is one of those Have you ever been stuck on a ski lift? luckily never been there to begin with Do you know who Nancy Sinatra is? ain’t this the gal who sings “those boots were made for walking” or smth like that? Have you ever bought anything from an airport? I wasn’t there so... If I asked you who you were gonna marry a year ago, you would say; omg Do you snore, talk, sleepwalk, or drool? drool at times, sorry also roll/kick around and fart ^^” When you woke up this morning, what was your first thought? I was wondering why Nat fronted If you could start completely over knowing what you do now, would you? possibly

If you drink coffee, do you have a favorite flavor & brand? If so, what? not applicable Have you ever personally known a pair of Conjoined twins? woah What is your first thought when you see people kissing in public? "get a room” Would you ever consider being a professional stunt-person? I have no abilities/skills/health etc for that kind of job and it’s really sad actors get prizes for stunt-ppl’s work

How about a Mailman? my father was and that ruined his body so I doubt it (Besides Hello kitty) Do you have a favorite Sanrio character? If so, Who? Hello Kitty is evil Do you flinch when strangers touch you? don’t touch me! Can you remember the first time you went to a movie theater? I believe Is there something in particular you like to look at photos of? What is it? I have strange interests... Do you actually like the taste of Diet Soda? didn’t try and don’t plan to What brand of toliet paper do you normally use? I don’t give a shit ;) Do the Charmin bears make you feel uncomfortable? xD fact that they’re red makes me uneasy On average, how many cans of soda would you say you drink daily? zero Did/do you ever stick your chewed -up gum under tables? I spat it on grass when I was younger and had stuck it in my hair years before as well but every other gum I trashed properly Can you remember the last thing you watched on the news that upset you? that’s why I avoid news How do you feel about red lipstick, is it whorish? it’s my fav but I no longer use makeup What is your definition of feminism? fighting for equal rights between women and men like pay in workplaces Are you comfortable in shorts? am not So, have you watched that Bob’s Burgers show? Do you like it? fragments

Do you ever get the feeling you dont belong? always Do you believe actions speak louder than words? good actors will use both ways to lie

If your friend tried to commit suicide infront of you how would you react? how, why, who, when etc. Ever had a rumour spread about you? plenty Have you ever tried to impress someone before? majority of my life and I hate myself for that If someone jumped on your back what would you do? die? If you had a child and they turned out just like you would you be happy? poor kid... If you could choose the gender of your child what gender would you choose? not that I want kids but girl

Name three people you want to meet in Heaven. from those who died or are alive rn?

What could be the theme song of your life? I was taking a quiz today and they gave me Kero Kero Bonito - I'd Rather Sleep

Do you have any embarrassing health issues? :( Who do you wish you could talk to? grandma and/or brother Do you lose or misplace things a lot? very rarely lose, misplace more often but still usually same item like my scissors What was the name of the street you grew up on (if you don’t live there now) I live here! Does it still feel like summer where you live? it’s too cold for that Do you have a Paypal account? I wish Have you ever had a brand or company reach out to you on Instagram? polyvore What is the last thing you purchased from Etsy? I have no bank account to be able to buy stuff there Do you sell on Etsy? I’d like to someday Do you have a favorite aunt, and if so, who is it? aunt Alice Who is your favorite cousin? no one Have you bought next year’s calendar yet? yup What year did/will you turn 30? 2022 What’s a food that you like, but it makes you feel sick? no comment Do you like the name Addison? sounds like a shoe Is there anything that you regret getting rid of? ... Have you ever stood up to a bully? couple of times Do you own striped tights? nude and transparent Have you ever made your own Halloween costume out of clothes from ur closet? yep When was the last time you received a hug? this day Do you have anyone who hugs you regularly? dad? Would you rather have the bottom bunk or top bunk? bottom Window seat or aisle seat? window, aisle if in church Have you ever thrown up on an airplane? that’s one of the reasons I won’t fly Have you ever seen anyone else throw up on an airplane? that’s another... Have you ever gotten sick in the car? almost Do you still wear clothes from the children’s section? whoops you got me What color is your watch? I need to buy watch for Nat... What color was the last pair of flip-flops you wore? last time I was wearing flip flops was before middle school and they were pink I suppose Were you born in your favorite season? in the worst! Have you eaten oatmeal lately? regularly... Do you enjoy editing photos? if not a snapchat filter selfie then I prefer them “natural” What is your favorite app on your phone? Choices forever! lately I begun playing The arcana and it’s pretty good, Lisa downloaded Addams family mystery mansion or smth but it’s not that cool and I used to play the detective story which was awesome <3 Do you answer your phone every time it rings? hell no Do you like to decoupage things? scrapbooks/collages are way better How many tabs are open on your browser right now? 9 with this one but I forgot to close the background music

How many times have you had sex within the past two years? Guesstimate? personal How many times in a month do you go to the movies? How much do you spend? not at all

When was the last time you heard thunder? Where were you at anyway? this month? home When was the last time you were in trouble with your parents? If so. it’s complicated Do you know anyone who claims to have the ability to see the future? I have dreams that come true and my parents do, also my gf When you go to the movies, do you actually watch the movies or not? ... what else would I do in the cinema? oh, you mean kiss and such? waste of money Do you love or loathe the Eurovision? I don’t mind it Have you ever wielded a sword? wanna try :D If you were famous would you want a statue or a building names after you? what for Can you erect a tent? hope I didn’t forgot How tall is the tallest person you know? didn’t ask Have you ever ridden a camel? might try What’s your opinion on rats? cute

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