#little prince parrallel

[horizon-verizon]

https://twitter.com/theblacks_/status/1619373198931554304?s=20&t=oNFa96-iG4H5do4BW8LKqA

If this true , I'm going kms . God just let villains be villains

Probably they will have aegon accidentally ordering Rhaenyra death because his valyrian sucks so much or sunfyre will decide to be a prick and do it on his own and then we will have Aegon crying, screaming , and throwing up💔

and his friendship will end with sunfyre at that moment 💔💔💔

This show was a mistake and it's probably one of mushroom's japes anyways

This is the tweet anon sent:

So, yeah, apparently the plan Blood and Cheese have is to just kidnap Jaehaerys/Maelor, not kill them.

And it looks like Ryan is going to apply his theory of accidents to that event in order to see how Alicent and/or Aegon “reacts” to this misfire by the blacks. The blacks’ “accidentally” killing their boy. 

And this is such bullshit, because Book!Daemon wanted that boy dead when he explicitly said in his letter to Rhaenyra while he was at Harrenhal: 

“An eye for an eye, a son for a son,” Prince Daemon wrote. “Lucerys shall be avenged.

(Fire and Blood; “A Son for a Son”)

Lucerys is dead. Only a dead son will “pay its debt”, just as Alicent of both episode 7 and Fire and Blood says when his eye is taken.

The whole point in the Blood and Cheese incident in canon/Fire and Blood was to match Lucerys’ death, and its cruelty: get a ruler’s son for a ruler’s son when they were supposed to be safe. (Neither show nor book Aemond should have gone after Lucerys for a “battle” when all show/book versions of these two characters were trying to peacefully get Borros’ support.) 

The reason why they seem to be going for kidnapping and accidental kill versus just killing is because they want to repeat how Aemond just wanted to make Lucerys feel scared and psychologically torture him, then have Daemon do the same. 

Because HotD’s Aemond did not kidnap Lucerys, “accidentally” killing him -- allowing a situation where death or horrible injury would likely happen -- I can see that the show writers might argue that Daemon also psychologically tortures the greens and puts their boy in grave danger, making them think that he will have Blood and Cheese kill him (as Aemond makes Lucerys think that he will kill him, then actually “accidentally” kills him). 

All in order to, like Aemond did to Lucerys, juvenilely “make a point” to them.

Because PaRrAlLeLs and “everything in history can be possibly explained away by misunderstanding and accidents”.

Also, canon Blood and Cheese were “happy” and eager to be there in the room torturing Helaena and mocking Maelor and in relative harmony with their objective and where they were going:

“You hear that, little boy?” Cheese whispered to Maelor. “Your momma wants you dead.” Then he gave Blood a grin, and the hulking swordsman slew Prince Jaehaerys, striking off the boy’s head with a single blow.

(Fire and Blood; “A Son for a Son”)

But in this audition, Cheese doesn’t know where to go to go for the boys (even though canonically he is supposed to know most of the Red Keep’s secret ways -- which is his entire reason of being there?!), argues with Blood about his lack of knowledge, and looks very reluctant to do the job. As if he is already regretting being there. Which, going by Condal’s saying that the blacks will lose some favor next season, that we are maybe meant to see even Cheese feel remorse, have trouble with doing “evil Daemon’s” bidding, or even fear. That he senses this whole thing will go to shit and he doesn’t want to involve himself, but he’s got a family or something, IDK. Something that will make us feel more sympathetic for him and the greens, less so for the blacks, and angrier at Daemon for using his poverty or some other need/addiction for this job that could put Cheese in mortal danger.

Problem with this is that how the hell would Daemon even know that Aemond wasn’t “just” trying to scare Lucerys and to then himself do this whole stupid-ass, juvenile “just trying to make the greens feel tortured shitck” by just kidnapping one of their small princes?! 

Is Aemond writng a letter or going to Dragonstone to “admit his fault and receive punishment”? 

Is he going to just go back home and then try to say this, a spy hears of this and tells the rest of the blacks/Daemon?

What is this?! I hope I’m just going insane and this is actually just a leaked audition before they realized their mistake and that I am just a bad writer myself instead of the other way around! but hotD long lost my respect, so....IDK

[rosegardensanctuary]

I can’t let this go any more than this....(theory analysis)

Realizing that I didn’t want to alienate my non-RG followers, I decided to post this analysis on this blog, knowing that many of you guys are going to love this:

After someone pointed out that Oscar’s new combat gear resembles the little prince by @conehatboyf I decided to go out of my way and post the comparisons onto the table.

First, the most obvious parallels:

Prince from an asteroid planet b612=Farm boy status:

Has a crush on Ruby rose= Prince falls in love with a Rose

Now for the Meta ones:

The Pilot- Ozpin/Qrow The status of the pilot might be either Qrow or Ozpin. The reason why I pull this out is because Ozpin and Qrow are the two adults who showed Oscar an idea what a huntsman is supposed to be: taking responsibility and discussing matters of consequence. 

In the novel, the pilot is the narrator who had valued the things that adults had long abandoned in favour of the worldly, materialistic worldview. When the pilot met the little prince, he was reminded of the value of “what is invisible to the eye”. At the same time, the pilot also had concerns of “a matter of consequence”, things that the little prince had found rather appalling in most adults that he had met. In the same fashion, Oscar found Ozpin’s shadiness rather inexcusable to some degree. The same can be said with Qrow and his jaded nature towards everything.

 The adults in individual planets: the slue of adults might be Ozma’s incarnations. All of which are people of different personalities and concerns. I won’t be so surprised to find that Oscar may eventually find himself encountering a brief moment with each of them in the near future.

The journey:

(sorry the photo sucks) In the novel, the little prince travelled through migration of birds. similarly, Oscar is travelling with Qrow (a part birdman) and the rest of JNR&RWBY.

What’s curious to me though is this:

The fox We don’t know who the fox could represent in rwby, but, we are under the assumption that this character may become someone whom Oscar befriends and is close to but won’t be anything more than just friends. Let me quote from the book itself:

“Go and look again at the roses. You will understand that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret.” The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. “You are not at all like my rose,” he said. “(...) You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, now he is unique in all the world. (...)”

I realize I may be over-analysing this, but in the end of the day, this is a story about RWBY not Oscar Pine. Though I am not saying that the rosegarden ship may become canon. but I guess this parallel makes me love this ship even more.

And even if it never becomes canon, RG fans can just some of this meta for their next fanfic/fanart.

That’s just my take on the matter.

[tatsumi-harem-chronicles]

[1]also for contemplation little mermaid au kaname is ariel, tatsumi is eric, and mayoi is ursula except kaname just wants to see the land out of curiousity, the ruels of the deal has it b that he just has to make some/one human love him and so his platonic familial love he finds w himeru (human) is enough to get him not-cursed and mayoi's lil scheme to "steal" the human prince tatsumi from him "fails" spectacularly and mayoi is now a princess (bc im a mayoip and i say so-)

[1]in my mind

i just thought "waht if we endgamed kaname tojo/eden" like akfnsgjhkfhasdjktawe w h a t how

GEHSBSJWABDF kaname travels too far out of town one day, getting lost before stumbling upon a seemingly abandoned mansion in the forest with a beautiful encased rose in the garden, greeted by beauty and the beast hiyojun,

hiyori: ♪ i am so glad to finally be home with my love juWHAT IN THE kaname: (waving) hiyori: BEAST, WHO? IS THIS? jun (the beast): idk he said he was lost i think

KJANFKJNADSKFNAKSDNFKASF MORE FAIRYTALES???? HELL YES nagisa, trapped in the neighboring tower: oh, hello again ibara, the foreign prince who is hopelessly lost in the forest: god fucking damnit little does he know a wandering witch/magician jsut trapped him in a loop illusion for the lols

HAHDJVKNLNKBNKB NAGISA AS RAPUNZEL..

[2]it checks

sora: master shouldnt we be a little nice to this guy natsume: no. lol [2]IT DOES

ibara, in a fit of frustration, jailbreaks nagisa from the tower hoping to escape the loop. natsume decides enough's enough and lets em leave. except their sense of direction (collectively) is even more fucked and they just end up lost in the forest for hours until they stumble upon the hiyojun castle omg wait would bmeru turn into a gaston parrallel when his bro goes missing?

OOHH

[lovebecomeshim]

hello! your zutara posting today has finally motivated me to ask this question because I came to atla very late(last year, to be specific) and I Love It Very Much but am 1000% out of the loop as far as why what remains of fandom (at least that I've seen among my friends) is so very strongly zutara. I'm not opposed to it per se I just don't really know what has driven it to apparently be such a popular ship? can you help me understand and maybe convert me a little bit?

Hey!! Your ICON! :D I can try but I’m not sure how coherent I’ll be; however I AM sure someone a lot more competent will be willing to add to this. Either way, I’m glad you asked because my plan was to drag down as many people as possible with me.

*smacks the hood of zutara* this baby can fit so much mutual love and support!

This got so long, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put it under a cut on mobile and it already got deleted once so I’m scared to mess with it lol. Moving on.

I’m gonna start this with a disclaimer that im on mobile so formatting is tricky and I’m also really new to atla in that I only completed my first watch through in like 2019??? So some of my info is all just based on what I’ve picked up from Discourse 👀 so anyway the sparknotes version: zutara was wildly popular from the beginning. To the point where the atla crew internally disagreed on which ship should be endgame. (Ex. Bryke [showrunners] asked the writers to rewrite The Southern Raiders to make Zuko seem less ideal for Katara than Aang [which failed, depending on who you ask]; the animation team purposefully created a visual parrallel between Oma and Shu in the Cave of Two Lovers and Zuko and Katara in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se in the Crossroads of Destiny; etc.)

The ship was popular enough that Bryke actually chose to display zk fanart at a con for the sole purpose of mocking the fans, but that’s neither here nor there. The entire episode Ember Island Players, while a love letter to/parody of the whole show, was an opportunity to address zutara’s viability as a canon pairing (while, again, mocking zutaras for romanticizing that catacombs scene). Point is! It’s always been popular but with it not being endgame, there’s got to be something that’s given it staying power.

And that’s honestly got to do with three things: their dynamic, thematic cohesion, and potential.

(You know what... you know what, it’s four things. The fourth is they’re so aesthetically pleasing together and individually. Like, they’re just good looking people [specifically when they’re grown but they’re also cute kids] and that absolutely doesn’t hurt) (but it’s not the Point, it’s just nice to point out sometimes)

The dynamic is hard to get into without also looking at the canon pairings, but I think I can do that without unnecessary bashing. It’s just that part of the magic of zutara is really highlighted by what they give to each other that their other relationships don’t.

First off, it’s classic enemies to (would be) lovers. The absolute truest form of it. It’s not too different from how CS started out: a rogue antagonist with a job to do—but no personal vendetta against the future love interest—who is deeply and emotionally invested in his personal storyline (revenge/redemption) with little regard for how it effects other people after his entire life and genuine good nature are marred by suffering, and a fierce warrior girl with a strong moral compass and her own personal investment in stopping him (protect her family and save the world doing it). Obviously frustration and animosity grew between them by the nature of them being on opposing sides, but that just lends itself to the sweetness of their later reconciliation.

The thing is that while they’re wildly different on the surface (he’s a hot-headed prince of a fascist regime who is trying to capture the Avatar to please his father; she’s a nurturing daughter of the chief who is trying to protect and train the Avatar in order to topple his father’s throne) they find out that they have so much more in common both in their experiences and their personalities.

(What follows is an excessive use of the word “both” and I’m sorry about that)(I can edit it. I can do that. That IS an option............)

They both have an innate sense of justice that they are determined to see done (zuko, at the war meeting, sticking up for the Earth Kingdom kid when the guards torment his family, choosing not to steal from the pregnant couple despite his circumstances, abiding by his word to leave the SWT should Aang come willingly, etc.; katara, literally.... at any point). They both have pretty one-track minds at accomplishing certain goals once they’ve put their mind to it, regardless of a lack of support in that endeavor (it goes without saying I guess, but zuko’s entire hunt; katara’s determination to get the earth benders to fight back, her determination to absolutely destroy Pakku until he agrees to teach her, etc.). They both lost their mothers at young ages. Their worlds are war-torn and traumatizing to them both, if in different ways, but that ultimately forces them to grow up too quickly to be wholly independent individuals. They both have issues with their fathers (for WILDLY different reasons, but). They both hold extreme prejudices that they need to learn to overcome (which ties into thematic cohesion)(bit like Lizzie and Darcy in that way but magnified by a million). They’re both extremely emotional and empathetic—which can and often does result in loud outbursts. Katara’s a bit better adjusted and can temper her anger for longer than S1 Zuko can, but they both feel that anger deeply and have no compunctions expressing it (Katara is, usually, more justified, particularly in S1. Again, S1 Zuko is severely maladjusted but at the point when they could’ve feasibly become a couple, he’s so much better off with the way he carries himself). They both struggle with feelings of inferiority in their bending abilities when confronted with prodigal benders like Aang and Azula, but have the work ethic required to double down and become two of the most powerful benders in the three remaining nations. This is a little more minor but it is a parrallel that appeals to some shippers that they both have these alter egos in the Painted Lady (notably fire nation coded) and the Blue Spirit (water tribe coded) that are pretty different from who they are day-to-day and are useful in accomplishing a purpose that they as themselves cannot.

(I’m.... I just realized that this could potentially get very long. Should I have made a slide show with bullet points??????)

Anyway, similar. I know there’s more but there’s literally so much to love about zutara that I’ll drive myself a little crazy trying to compile all the ways they’re similar. (Just gonna say that at this exact moment I went back to add more similarities.... so okay then)

Once they’ve reconciled, we see how all of these things only lend themselves to a deeper intimacy together than they share with literally anyone else. There’s a steady partnership that positions them as the mom/dad of the gaang, while also providing the support necessary to allow the other to not have to carry so much responsibility. A lot of zutaras will point out how zuko is actually depicted doing the more domestic chores that are normally relegated to Katara once he joins the gaang, since the others in the group are two 12-year-olds and sokka. The one that sticks out the most is how he makes tea for the group and then serves them, while Katara is able to just relax with her friends around the fire. Fanon expands upon this a lot to Zuko helping with the laundry or the cooking or whatever else needs doing since he, as a once-refugee, is used to doing his own domestic tasks. Before Zuko joined, Katara was the one mothering everyone, sewing for them, cooking for them, etc. She’s always tending to the needs of the group, and that includes emotionally. She does the emotional labor for the gaang 99% of the time, but when she’s the one falling apart, she’s usually doing it alone and without the comfort that she normally provides for others. Until Zuko. And that’s before they’re even friends.

Which is WHY people romanticize the catacombs of Ba Sing Se so much. Katara is verbally attacking Zuko out of her own righteous anger but also her own prejudice when Zuko, surprisingly, chooses to be vulnerable with her. He’s been on a journey that’s opened his eyes a bit, but he’s never actively chosen to expose the rawest parts of his past to anyone. But for some reason he chooses to do that with Katara of all people. While she’s yelling at him. He sees her humanity, and for once can look past his prejudice and empathize with her. And this time, when she breaks down, she gets to be comforted. Katara normally talks about her mother when she’s trying to explain to someone else that she sees and understands they’re pain, as a form of comfort to them. Here, Zuko uses the exact same tactic. He sees her and he understands. And for zuko? He’s not being shut down. He’s allowed to articulate his pain regarding his mother without being ignored and made to internalize it, and he’s allowed to process how he feels about his scar out loud without being told that he deserved it. And then he lets her touch his scar, something we’ve seen him actively avoid before. He’s completely open to her and she’s completely open to him and all it took was one five minute conversation. She was about to use the little bit of Spirit water that she had, that she was saving for something Important, to heal the scar that still daily causes him pain just because they had, somehow, connected.

Plus there’s the whole parallel to the star-crossed lovers forbidden from one another, a war divides their people—

And then zuko messes up, he regresses, he gets what he wants and he HATES it. And the sense of justice he had as a child has been restored to him against his will and he can’t think of anything he wants to do more than the Right Thing, so he joins team avatar. Before he does that though, we get to see his relationship with Mai, which is where comparison really comes in. And what we see is Zuko, fresh off of his encounter with Katara in the catacombs, trying to be emotionally honest with Mai... and getting shut down and dismissed. Which is just how Mai is and it’s fine, but not for Zuko. Still, he keeps trying, and he keeps getting ignored or scoffed at or yelled at. Which is really a larger symbol for how he doesn’t fit in his old life anymore, but again that’s about thematic cohesion. He tries to articulate his anxieties about returning home, he tries to make romantic gestures, he tries to explain how morally conflicted he’s feeling—and Mai diverts to some kind of physical affection to shut him up and a parting comment that is pretty much always, in essence, “I don’t wanna talk about this.” So they don’t. On the other hand, once zuko and Katara are friends, we see him again emotionally distraught and caught up in his anxieties about facing Iroh, and it’s Katara who comes to him and listens to him and comforts and encourages him.

Similarly, we have Aang clamming up and getting uncomfortable whenever Katara shows any negative emotion, usually resulting in him making excuses or running away. Or, in the case of the Southern Raiders, lecturing her on how she needs to just let go of her anger about her mother’s murder. People have talked this episode to death and usually better than I ever could, so imma... keep it brief. There’s a serious disconnect between Aang and Katara in his ability to empathize with Katara and her needs that has her tamping down her vulnerability and amping up her anger. He tells her that he was able to forgive his people’s genocide and appa’s kidnapping (petnapping? Theft??), which is blatantly not true but also not an entirely equal parrallel to Katara’s situation, and continues making these little remarks throughout the episode. But it’s Zuko that Katara opens up to. It’s with him that she’s able to talk about the most traumatic day of her life, and it’s with him that she’s able to get the closure she needs, cementing their bond as friends and partners. This disagreement between Aang and Katara is then... never resolved. They just never bring it up and hear what the other is saying.

There’s a fic called The Portraits of Ember Island that has a line that so completely sums up the heart of the matter for why people love their dynamic. For context, zuko has woken up early to help Katara with the cooking and they spend the whole time just letting one another talk, and zuko stops to ask why she always just lets him talk. And so she stops to ask why he’s always helping, and it goes as follows:

There’s just... so much mutual support! Trust! Intimacy!! And it just continues like that from the Southern Raiders on, listening to each other, advising each other, watching each other’s backs! And then! Literally saving each other’s lives!! I will never be over the last Agni kai. Not ever. Zuko may have been willing to jump in front of lightning for anyone, but he actually did it for Katara. And in a show, that’s the thing that really matters. It’s a fulfilled trope usually exclusively applied to romantic pairings, and it ended up applying to Zuko and Katara. And then she ran out into the middle of a fight with tunnel vision just to get to him.

Also!! Also Zuko pushing Katara out of the way of the falling rocks at the Western Air Temple!! And Katara catching him as he fell from the war balloon that he fought Azula on!! Before they’re even getting along, they’re the ones reaching for each other. They come to this place of equal ground, as partners, who watch each other’s backs, call each other out but still listen attentively and understand, and provide the support that the other has been sorely lacking up until they knew each other (whether that be from lack of effort or lack of understanding from others, or an unwillingness to accept it for themselves).

Then, trailing along under the surface of this, we see the themes of the show totally embodied by Zuko and Katara as individuals and in their relationship to one another. There’s a YouTuber, sneezyreviews, who has a, like, 2-hour explanation on why she not only loves zutara but also believes that their endgame would’ve actually elevated the writing of atla to new levels particularly because of thematic cohesion and resolved character arcs. It’s the zutara dissertation I never knew I needed, and it’s funny and eloquent and effective, so I’m just going to sum up her section on thematic cohesion to the best of my abilities and then link it for whenever you have the time. And I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a full understanding of what makes zutara so great and gives it such longevity.

Guru pathik has a line that goes something like this: separation is an illusion; things that seem different are just two parts of the same whole. Iroh also tells Zuko something similar: balance and strength are achieved when the different nations come together and influence one another and celebrate what makes them each unique. And this lesson is a massive central arc that both Zuko and Katara go through, moving past a black-and-white, good guys-vs-bad guys, us-vs-them mentality and into a greyer, more nuanced view of the world. Zuko sees the fire nation from an entirely new perspective and while he still loves and hopes for his nations future, he surrenders his blind loyalty to them in exchange for an unflinching loyalty to peace and love. Katara too had to come to terms with the fact that cruel people exist in the earth kingdom and water tribes, while some fire nation citizens are just regular, kind people who also need and deserve to have someone speak on their behalf. And this is honed in directly on how they view each other. They grow in their individual journeys to be open to the humanity in the other and then, once they’ve found that, they’re able to grow more in compassion for others in a beautiful feedback loop. And this is all matched in the symbolism repeatedly and intentionally associated with them in canon: sun and moon, fire and water, yin and yang, Oma and Shu who found love despite their warring nations. Their individual arcs are completed in each other and complement the themes of atla beautifully.

The canon pairs... just don’t. Which, again, is fine. But the very things that give atla longevity and popularity are anchored in zutara. Kat@ang doesn’t accomplish this. They’re... nice. Sweet. Especially when you erase a good portion of their interactions in S3. It could’ve been just a sweet love story. (Personally, the dynamic between toph and aang accomplish the same thing that zutara does, with complementary personalities that fulfill the theme of opposites blending in harmony) M@iko, on the other hand, is less sweet but I think wasn’t even supposed to last. Zuko’s relationship with Mai seems to represent his relationship with his old life as a whole. He can’t be emotionally vulnerable, he’s goaded into abusing his privileges, his agency and opinions aren’t respected. They just don’t have common ground with which to discuss anything that matters, so they don’t. As far as themes, the relationship doesn’t fit with atla. It’s zuko returning to and sticking with what is (on the surface) like him, what’s expected. Fire nation with fire nation. Fluid water bender with the flexible air bender. Like with like, separated from what is different and challenging and complementary.

And all of these things combined of course lead to the potential for the ship. I don’t know how familiar you are with the post-atla canon but... well, miss “I will never turn my back on people who need me”, miss “I don’t want to heal! I want to fight!” ends up living quietly in the SWT as a designated healer who turns a blind eye to the water tribe civil war happening right outside her front door. Which can be fine! People change! Some people just wanna stay inside. I just wanna stay inside! But the potential future for zutara is so much more satisfying, with Katara becoming the most unconventional Fire Lady the uppity old cads who are stuck on the old ways have ever seen. Fanon has her serving as a voice for the other nations within a kingdom at the point of its biggest political upheaval, as a confidante to Zuko who can actually help him while he’s trying to figure out how to move forward and make reparations. They have the opportunity, together, to accomplish what they both have set on their hearts to fight for: positive change that lends itself to harmony and balance. And the steambabies! A popular headcanon is that their firstborn daughter, the crown princess, is actually a waterbender, which causes such an uproar among the people who are adamantly clinging to the old ways. It’s just a future full of potential to be forces for good together, full of trust, intimacy, joy. The exact era of peace and love and balance that zuko announces that he intends to ring in with the start of his reign as Fire Lord is, again, magnified by the very personal zutara relationship. And we love to see it.

tl;dr zutara isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t vibe with it. Some are nostalgic. Some love the canon they grew up with. Some have been disappointed for years. Some just see themselves in other characters and want their happiness instead. Whatever the reason, that’s fine. But for me, I love the way these two, from the moment they give each other a fair chance, are able to lower their walls and prejudices to see the other for the kindred spirits they are. They see each other’s humanity, and their response is to pour out love and support and compassion. I love that they’re a power couple in battle. I love the symbolism and, honestly, soulmatism that colors their every interaction. I love that they embody the whole storyline of atla in their relationship and how it develops, which is notably why their seasonal arcs always culminate in each finale with how they relate to one another. I love that zuko adopting a waterbending move is what actually saves his life and then katara’s. I love the chemistry! And I love the future they could’ve had, instead of the ones they were given.

So, in conclusion: I just think they’re neat and I hope you do too, at least a little bit. Even if it’s just respectfully from a disinterested distance cause you do you. And now here is the video I mentioned. I’m sorry this post got so long and then I gave you an even longer homework assignment, but I can’t recommend it enough. She says it all better than I can.

[abigailzimmer]

Top 2019 Reads

1. The Book of Delights by Ross Gay is written (and cannot help to be read) in a spirit of pure joy. Each entry is a few paragraphs on something he delighted in for the day—from a hyphen ("the handshake of the punctuation world") to the concept of do-overs in games ("it delighted me in part because among the sorrows of adulthood, this action can feel more fantasy than possibility"). Watching someone look at the world in wonder and in gratitude changes you, softens you.

2. Naamah by Sarah Blake is a strange and gorgeous book I can't stop thinking about! Sarah retells the story of Noah's flood in an exciting and inventive way (an impressive feat if you're someone who's heard the biblical story countless times) that includes lots of dreams, a cockatoo guide, a tiger who is seen and not seen, and desire in many forms. It is surreal and real and poetry. It's that kind of story that I wish I had the chops to write, but since that would take me years, I'm so glad Sarah wrote it and that it's here now in this very present moment to read.

(And bonus! Reading this book made me return to her earlier collections of poetry: Mr. West, which follows Kanye West and his work, and Let's Not Live on Earth, which includes a beautiful series of monster poems. 2019 was the year I became a huge fan of Sarah’s work.)

3. I’m So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On by Khadijah Queen, which came out a few years ago from YesYes Books, is an inventive, energy-giving collection of prose poems. Khadijah’s speaker runs into Prince, Nelson Mandela, Elton John, The Rock, and others in both mundane and strange circumstances—on a video shoot or at the mall or at a bus stop or on MySpace. Some encounters are simply documented, others show the subtle or overt microaggressions women, and particularly Black women, face, and others revel in the joy of being, of talking back or just talking. 

4. Much has been written about Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers, and all the praise is true. Her story weaves together the AIDs epidemic in the Chicago gay community in the 1980s and the present-day story of a woman connecting with an enstranged daughter and dealing with her memories of those who passed away. It’s a time that I’ve heard so little about and Makkai recreates the confusion, fear, and anger that many people felt as well as creates vibrant and real characters whom you also grieve to lose.

5. Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister made me angry in the best ways possible, but also gave me words for my anger (ah, yes! that’s what I've been sensing). She provides a solid background on the history of women's movements over the decades, in particular centering women of color's leadership in these movements. It's good to know where we came from!

“The task—especially for the newly awakened, the newly angry, especially for the white women, for whom incentives to renounce their rage will be highest in coming years—is to keep going, to not turn back, to not give in to the easier path, the one where we weren’t angry all the time, where we accepted the comforts of racial and economic advantages that will always be on offer to those who don’t challenge power. Our job is to stay angry . . . perhaps for a very long time.”

6. I picked up Exhalation, Ted Chiang’s latest short story collection, because I loved the 2016 movie Arrival, based on one of his stories. Exhalation surprised me—it was so different from what I usually read. Chiang’s work is very heady, his stories concept-based rather than plot or character based, and often focus around a scientific or mathematical fact. Though I didn’t connect with every story, his writing expanded my thinking, made me pay attention to the logic within the world—and I loved that he included notes at the end of of each story about his inspiration, which made me appreciate each one.

7-8. Orange World by Karen Russell and Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin are two very strange and delightful short story collections that remind me why I love this genre and how far writers can take us into the surreal and parrallel-to-the-real and still have us follow them. After being somewhat disappointed with Karen’s first novel, I was eager to read her return to the short story world. Months later I still carry around with me the eerily calm rowing of the “The Gondoliers,” a story about sisters who have developed echolocation to guide tourists through a post-apocalyptic polluted and flooded Florida. Mouthful of Birds by the Spanish writer Samanta Schweblin had a similar tone to Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado. I loved it from the first story “Headlights,” in which a growing collection of women left at a gas station by their new husbands together take back the wheel of a car and leave. These stories haunt and surprise and tingle your spine.

9. I read very few poetry collections this year (and I miss it…), but one I did read was Amy Lipman’s chapbook collection, Cardinal Directions, published by Ghost Proposal last spring. Amy’s voice is like chamomile tea, immediately calming and guiding my attention to the smallest details of home and solitude and what it is to be. Always with a note of humor (”I remember you like a pet”), Amy’s self-interrogation is honest and unexpected, her form direct and playful. This book calls me to myself.

grass adjusting     itself after      someone’s total weight or just one step

trying more     throughout the day     only to listen

I make arrangements     to understand     one part of the task before getting to the next     spreading oil in the pan     and witnessing it warm,      asking myself

to stop

making

language

10. How do you recommend a difficult and heartbreaking book? The Undying is not for the well or intact but, as Anne Boyer writes, for those who once were sick or will be sick. Her book explores her journey through breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, through disability and exhaustion, through capitalistic-oriented healthcare, through the difficulties of living without state-recognized families, through the pain and body as history. Boyer weaves in and out of story, the (lack of) literature of illness, and the ways in which capitalism is tied up with acts of care. As someone who’s lost a loved one to cancer, it’s difficult to read, but necessary, too, to have stories of not alone-ness and stories that could beget change. Boyer has so many insights into how we respond to and are failed by healthcare and our culture’s attitude toward the sick, our often blind belief in surgeons and medicine to save us, the myth that cancer is one identifiable disease and not a metaphor, and the inevitability that medicine becomes “the safest opportunity for profit.”

[yvvaine]

A Meta on Madness

Here’s the thing with Targaryen madness. Most weren’t just born raving mad.  They developed it. Some as early as childhood, others well into adulthood; sometimes even instigated by some event (like the Defiance of Duskendale which affected Aerys II Targaryen’s madness). Grand Maester Phycelle even commented how Aerys had been “a good man. such a charmer....” until he became obsessed with his dreams of “fire & blood”. 

It seems that that is the commonality. Fire & Blood. And also obsession. Most of the “madness” starts out as personality traits, like unchecked outbursts and impusliveness. Some form of violence (during said outbursts) develops shortly thereafter. Mixed in is usually a god-like self-image and some personal obsession / quest. Also paranoia. Delusions and hallucinations, for the most part, dont develop all that fast. Theyre “charming good men” with hot heads, and that slowly escelates, little by little until it begins to snowball. Again, some earlier than others. 

But obsession seems to be reaccuring throught all the circumstances. 

They fixate on something (Fire & Blood, religion, beliefs, etc) and take it too far, and the more they do, the more obsessed they become, the more the ‘madness’ seems to set in. 

King Baelor the Blessed was overzealously obsessed with religion and purity, to the point that he starved himself into an early grave because he believed that food is of this world, and the material world is sinful.

Prince Aerion Brightflame, son of King Maekar and nephew of the Prince Rhaegel. Aerion killed himself drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon.

Visery’s ‘madness’ (mostly outbursts, paranoia, and cruelty), according to Daenerys at least, was linked/instigated to a somewhat traumatic event; the selling of their mother’s crown. My guess is that he was old enough to be traumatized by the events that sent them into exhile, put all his hopes and dreams into that crown, idolized it, and losing it was kind of the final push. 

Madness ≠ Certified Crazy Person

In fact I dont even really like the term madness, because it denotes that the Targaryen in question is 24/7 insane. And dont get me wrong, some def are. But in GRRM’s world their ‘madness’ is MUCH more subtle than that. Its pathology is almost like a disease. And people can live with the most terrible diseases for quite along while and work around it/not have it effect them. As a Certified Sick Person myself, I know that particular lesson more than quite a bit of people (thanks autoimmune system!) Id say. Look at diabetes! People can live with diabetes and not have to cut their foot off or die (like the olden days) with the right amount of lifestyle and personal choices. But untreated, without proper checks and balances, symptoms get worse, other manisfate on top of one another.  To say they have the “Targaryen madness” is not a black and white issue, because their “insanity” is not as simple as : “that persons obv crazy and that persons not!!” You cant equivicate mid-story/life Daenerys with late-in-life Aerys. Its a cultivation of symptoms over years. Theyre not at equal points in their life to one another; obv shes not blinded by “KILL THEM ALL” attitudes yet. 

Early-in Life Aerys (perhaps a better parallel to Daenerys’s timeline) was: 

“...while not being the most intelligent, nor the most diligent of princes [I wonder who that sounds like? Cough Mereen] he was described as having an undeniable charm. He was generous, handsome and resolute, although somewhat quick to anger. [SOUND LIKE ANYONE. A good heart? Beautiful? Determined and passionate? SOMEWHAT quick to anger?] He was also vain, proud, and changeable, traits that made him easy prey for lickspittles and flatterers.” 

The last part is more up for debate but Dany does think quite highly of herself and is VERY proud. Shes also reminded frequently of her amazing-ness, as well as her beauty, which would bloat anyones ego. And while she realizes the difference between blatant kiss asses (“People used to tell that kind of thing to my brother”) she also prefers those that agree with her or her line of thinking and suck up to her. Shes kinder to those that fall into step and bestows greater favor on them in that moment (even when the person in the room disagreeing is a “friend”). 

“As he grew older, Aerys became increasingly jealous, suspicious and cruel, prone to furious outbursts.”

I think a lot of readers and show viewers see this increasingly “bratty” quality to her character. Even when her anger (toward the slave masters for instance) is morally and technically VERY justified (Personally I hate this POV, as I’m someone whos decided to dedicate my lifeswork to human rights law, so decidely I am not for cruel racist individuals. Moreover, I dont think many people, if there is any at all, who believe in dark!(or just a generally darker)dany are racist and pro-slavery - which is something i see stans misguidedly clapback with often in the face of criticism) her “justice” becomes all she see’s to disastrous consequences, including crucifying those that shouldnt have been.

“My father spoke out against crucifying those children. He decried it as a criminal act but was overruled. Is it justice to answer one crime with another?” - Hizdahr zo Loraq, S04E06 “The Laws of Gods and Men” on Daenerys crucifying his father because of the status he was born into.

She also seems to be developing more and more paranoia. “Betray me and I’ll burn you alive.” (obv betrayal should be punished WHEN IT HAPPENS, but like, shes already imagining scenrarios and felt the need to say something, ie paranoid). The entire beach tantrum and her turning against her ally and HAND Tyrion because she was upset at their(shared) battle failures. And while its great that she doesnt want to be the Queen of Ashes, in her right mind, in moments of anger and fustration she constantly has to be talked down from burning cities. So increasingly more worrisome. 

Shes also increasingly fixated on ‘the iron throne’. As her obsession grows....

Sorta like: Aerys in his youth. 

So while duh, shes not batshit insane like her father was right before the end of his life, people forget, her father wasnt “bad” or “mad” till his later years either. Comparing the two (her father right before he was killed and Dany now) is like comparing a seed to a flower. Same material and DNA. Same circumstances / needs the same to grow (unchecked symptoms like their anger and obsessions). But ultimately different stages in their lives, and as such different consequences and attributes. 

GA (and Stans)‘s Short-sidedness

The “Mad Dany” theory mostly comes from people woh dont neccisarily see dany as stark raving mad like Aerys Burn Them All Targaryen (i know, shocking) but rather see this similarity (past face value cough cough), and see the parrallels between young Aerys the Charming Good But Slghty Tantrum-y Tararyen with Dany now, and made educated forecasts in what that means for future-Dany based on her current arch. The same Dany who is increasingly obsessed with conquering an entire ass continent that shes held up as a symbol and put all her hopes and dreams of ‘home’ into (kinda like the way Viserys did with their mothers crown)  (also a continent that she knows nothing and hasnt bothered to learn anything about). She has no plans on creating a democracy or dispersing power to try to mitigate her faults because shes completely fucking blind to them. She plans on sitting on that uncomfortable ass stupid metal throne and being uncompromising because shes not a Politician shes a QWEEN  #fuckcompromise #fuckdiplomacy #fuckpeace #bendtheknee #ammiright :))))) Meanwhile dancing on really thin ice that could any minute crack under her, and the more it cracks the faster it makes new ones until it snowballs quickly out of hand and suddenly it snaps and kills you. Only shes queen in this scenario with two resusable nukes at her disposal so in this case its not just her but the entire country that drowns.

 Politics is a long game. We - in the real world - choose a leader who is not just best for us in the now, but who will create a better future for our children, and their children, and so on. 

Dany is not a good, stable bet. I originally meant to do a short sassy one liner about this but then I got on a soapbox and started getting all philisophical and now this could literally be my senior thesis its that long. (My apologies!) Im also know where near finished with this so this could maybe be Part One?